Ethnic Malays, who make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people, control the government and all state-owned enterprises. Ethnic Chinese, at 25 percent of the population, dominate private business. Ethnic Indians, who make up 8 percent, remain at the bottom of Malaysia's economic and political hierarchy.

AP) - Malaysians typically sit and gripe about the government while sipping tea in safe sidewalk cafes. Few want to protest in public and face possible arrest.

That could be changing.

About 20,000 minority ethnic Indians clashed on the streets with the Kuala Lumpur police for seven hours in November to demand equal rights and a fairer share of national resources. They dispersed amid clouds of tear gas and water cannons. Some 250 people were briefly detained and five protest organizers are in jail under a law that allows indefinite detention without charges or trial.

«It was a watershed event,» said S. Nagarajan of the Education, Welfare and Research Foundation, a nonprofit group that represents impoverished ethnic Indians. «It showed that Malaysians have overcome the fear of authorities. Even we were surprised by the scale and the spirit of the people.

Emboldened by the impact of the Nov. 25 demonstration, ethnic Indians have become increasingly vocal with claims that they are marginalized in this multiracial country. They claim that the Malaysian Indian Congress, the third largest party in the ruling National Front coalition, has become corrupt and has not done enough to improve the situation for Indians.

Ethnic Malays, who make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people, control the government and all state-owned enterprises. Ethnic Chinese, at 25 percent of the population, dominate private business. Ethnic Indians, who make up 8 percent, remain at the bottom of Malaysia's economic and political hierarchy.

In response to the unrest, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he would form a panel to draw up anti-poverty measures for all races. He did not elaborate on the plan.

Abdullah is widely expected to hold general elections in March, a year before they are required. The National Front - which has been in power since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957 - is easily expected to return to power, even with the MIC facing widespread anger from its constituents.

The Nov. 25 demonstration was followed by a five-day hunger strike in January by a group of ethnic Indians to demand the release of the five activists in jail. The five men also fasted until one of them was hospitalized with dehydration.

But the Indian anger was conveyed most emphatically during the religious festival of Thaipusam on Jan. 23. Every year, more than a million Indians gather at the Batu Caves temple, which is managed by the MIC, for daylong rituals. This year, most people stayed away from Batu Caves in protest, and instead gathered at another temple in neighboring Klang town.

This newfound boldness and the unusual outpouring of anti-government dissent has shaken the foundations of Malaysia's reputation as a stable nation where three disparate races _ Malays, Chinese and Indians _ live in peace.

"It is easy for such a rally to become a racial issue or elicit responses from other races and evolve into a major conflict," said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said.

Behind this concern is fear that overt ethnic tensions could scare away investors who form the bedrock of Malaysia's booming economy.

The extraordinary street violence in late November followed a demonstration Nov. 10 by about 30,000 opposition activists to demand electoral reforms. In September, 1,000 lawyers marched to the prime minister's office to demand judicial progress.

Analysts warn that anger among disgruntled Malaysians is reaching a boiling point over discrimination against minorities, lack of religious freedoms, political interference in the judiciary, unfair elections and corruption.

"It is a cry for attention," said Abdul Rahman Embong, a prominent sociologist who teaches at the National University of Malaysia. "We cannot take the issue of disaffection by various people for granted."

Besides complaining in coffee shops and grumbling on blogs, Malaysians have few avenues for venting, as the state controls the media and does not allow open discussion on racial issues.

Public gatherings of more than four people require permits; anyone deemed a threat to public order faces arrest.

The most worrisome problem for the government is the sense of disenfranchisement among ethnic Indians.

Most Indians are descendants of indentured ethnic Tamil laborers brought by British colonials in the 19th century to work in rubber plantations. They were poor then, living in shacks and earning daily wages. Not much has changed.

In fact, the Indians say they are worse off now, thanks to a 1971 affirmative action policy favoring Malays in jobs, education, government contracts and businesses. The ethnic Chinese grumble too, but they are less affected and most have flourished in private enterprise, controlling a large part of the national economy.

"We want the minority Indians to be given their basic rights. If they can give us two or three (real concessions), we are willing to keep our mouth shut," P. Waytha Moorthy, who organized the Nov. 25 demonstration, told The Associated Press.

"That's what I don't understand: Why isn't the government conceding? We are not asking for super rights. We are asking for basic rights," he said in an interview in London, where he lives in self-imposed exile, fearing arrest like his five colleagues.

The government denies Indians are discriminated against, and says their living standards have vastly improved.

Government officials cite statistics to prove their case: The average monthly household income of Indians in 2004 was 3,456 ringgit (US$1,000), compared to the 2,711 ringgit (US$775) earned by Malays; about 2.9 percent of Indians lived below poverty line in 2004 compared to 39.2 percent in 1970.

But community leaders and activists dispute the official figures, saying they understate the poverty level among ethnic Indians and do not reflect reality: 90 percent of Indian workers are low-skilled laborers with little education who are treated with contempt by those in authority.

Indians are also stereotyped as alcoholics and gangsters.

According to Nagarajan, Indians make up 5 percent of the civil service now compared to 21.5 percent in 1969. Only about 1.2 percent of corporate equity has been in the hands of Indians for the past three decades.

"The anger has been building up," said Nagarajan. "The state has been arrogant and a bully, not realizing that even the marginalized can react."

I join the CSI-Parliament in calling on our Malaysian electorate to vote without fear and to send the strongest message possible to the Barisan Nasional Government that we will not be cynically fooled and manipulated by them as has happened in past elections.

As we look around with our eyes wide open, we find Malaysian society in a pathetic state due to more than 50 years of BN power without the normal checks and balances found in other countries. We see the sharp rise of corruption, self-enrichment and abuse of power by the BN component parties and its cronies.

We see BN representatives – MPs and State Assemblymen - that are out of touch with what is happening at the ground.

We see BN leaders playing dirty, resorting to media spin, threats and the use of force to ensure that negative views and truthful news are kept away from the public.

Soaring prices, rising crime in our streets, falling educational standards, increased sense of insecurity and heightened racial and religious polarization: this is only the tip of the mountain of problems, scandals and disasters that the Barisan Nasional leaders and its representatives in Parliament are leaving for our younger generation.

We have it in our power in the coming elections not only to demand a better quality of life and a higher standard of government.

We also have the power to vote against the BN and to send a loud signal that Malaysians are fed up with the present system and want change

Let us exercise our right in the polling booth to have better men and women voted in as our representatives so we can have a better future.

Let us not fall victim to the scare and gloom and doom tactics played on us by an increasingly arrogant, uncaring and politically bankrupt government.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is probably wrong if he is as confident as he says he is that Malaysia is positioned to avert any negative fallout from a threatened US recession by virtue of trade with the rest of Asean, which on its surface outweighs that of the US.

Following the Davos conference in Switzerland, the prime minister pointed out that 86 percent of Malaysia's GDP is domestically generated and added: "This has become one of our economic strengths (as we are no longer acutely dependent on external trade), and these strengths have come from the policies that we have drawn up and implemented, which are far-sighted.”

The speech and figures, probably prepared for him by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, are hardly realistic.

While the Malaysian economy has been robust over recent years, his boast that the country is immune from a US recession is incorrect.

There are direct and indirect elements that can make a US recession contagious, not only to Malaysia and other countries in Asia.

Using data from Malaysia’s state-owned External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), the US is still Malaysia’s biggest trading partner, with total trade of MR170.80 billion in fiscal year 2006.

In 2006 Malaysia exported RM589 billion to all markets. Almost 77 percent came from manufactured products, 62 percent of that from electronic items.

The small domestic market would not be able to consume excesses from a contracting export market. The major manufactured products for export, especially electronic and electrical products, are not suitable for domestic use.

What are Malaysians going to do with a few billion dollars worth of unsold semiconductors, computer chips and other high-technology products?

The war of roses is another attempt to pressure the UMNO led government to take into consideration of our 18 point demands and to release the 5 Hindraf leaders from ISA.

Our ultimate attempt to bring our grievances to the attention of the government on 25th nov are completely denied by the government and our 5 Hindraf leaders are detain in ISA.

Our former PM Dr Mahathir said that the UMNO led Government has done a big mistake , he pointed out that the government should have listen to the Indian plight by having talk with the Hindraf leaders to solve their problem amicably, the UMNO led government has done a biggest injustice to the poor Indian by labelling them as terrorist and extremist and jail their leaders.

This has angered and disappoints the Indians toward the government.

Our ultimate goal in this gathering is to show to the government that we are not forgetful people and we are serious in our demand for equal rights , and if the government did not give prior attention to our grievances , we will continue fight for our right and it is an ongoing struggle until our demand are met.

The UMNO led government evil intention, by detaining our leaders , are to silence the Malaysia Indian and to threaten them to keep quite , they expect within few months the Indian community will drop their demand, and ready to vote the BN again in the coming election, the MIC who called the only party to defence the Indian faith are pressured by the UMNO to convince the Indian that they are doing well in this country, the supervisor Samy vellu was send to India to tell lies that all Indian in Malaysia are properly taken care and doing well but Tamil Nadu government fully aware of the current marginalisation of Indian which majority of them are south Indian origin thus refuse to meet the supervisor.

The Feb 16th gathering is another chance to the Malaysian Indian to send message to UMNO led government that majority of Malaysian Indian are beside Hindraf platform and to remind them that their evil intention to suppress the Indian to keep quiet has failed, by detaining the 5 leader has never undermine the spirit of struggle for our right and to tell them we are united to demand the 18 points demand and ask the government immediately take steps to implement it.

With this peaceful gathering of 10,000 Indian, we will bring roses to meet the PM to remind him to immediately take measure to uplift the Indian which stated in the 18 points demands .We are merely gathered in front of Istana Negara in peaceful means to request from the PM to release innocent 5 Hindraf leaders, and if again they want to use police and FRU and use force to disperse the peaceful poor marginalised Indian , it is another attempt by UMNO led government to suppress the awaken realisation of Indian for their future in this country, and it is another chance for Indian to bring the issue to the international attention that we Indian are non-violence and the government back by the police are simply attacking the Indian ,and it is a prove that the UMNO led government will use whatever means to suppress and oppress the Indian to denied them basics human rights and their agenda is to slowly marginalised further the Indian to the extend of extinction by 2020.

54 protesters arrested in relation to a protest against price hikesorganised by the Coalition Against Inflation (Protes).

The government’s crackdown on peaceful assembly continued, when the policearrested more then 50 individuals, including opposition leader andsupporters near Ampang Park LRT station at about 3pm this afternoon.

Those arrested are reported to be held at the Lumpur Contingent PoliceHeadquarters (IPK Kuala Lumpur) Kuala Lumpur. As of 5.10pm, 54 individualsare confirmed to be detained at IPK Kuala Lumpur. S. Arutchelvan and 2others were taken to Pudu Jail.

- lack of special programs for Indian students from poor backgrounds; - the poor state of many Tamil Primary Schools; - absence of laws to protect the estate community when they are evicted in the name of development; Ditto for the peneroka bandar;

- insensitive handling of Hindu Temples which are demolished to make way for “development”

- extremely insensitive handling of cases of Indian individuals caught in “inter-faith situations for example Moorthy, Subashini, and others;

- the negative profiling of Indian youth by the police and other authorities as “gangsters” and the harsh treatment of these youth when caught by police;

These are just some aspects of the reality of Indians in Malaysia. Indians are made to feel that they are second-class citizens, and after 50 years of Merdeka they are beginning to resent it more and more!

Ethnic based mobilization is relatively easy to do.

Malaysian society has been tutored in racial politics by the BN parties (as well as by some opposition parties also) for the past 5 decades.

The vast majority of Malaysians think in ethnic terms.

However ethnic based mobilization of Indians will not be able to overcome the racial discrimination that Indians face.

At this point Hindraf is asking for

- Institution of affirmative policies for Malaysian Indians

- Monetary compensation from the British Government for “leaving us in this mess”

These are emotive issues, and it is obvious that many Malaysian Indians have responded to them.

But is even remotely possible that they can be attained by ethnic based mobilization of the Indians who make up only 7% of the population?

We should not forget that apart from racial discrimination, the majority of Indians face economic discrimination because they are workers in a system that favours the businessmen and the capitalists.

About 70% of Malaysian Indians are workers.

The problem they face as workers include

- low wages. In many factories the basic pay in RM 18 per day, which works out to RM 468 per month.

- There is no job security. Outsourcing, the widespread use of contract workers, and the easy availability of migrant workers all weaken the bargaining position of Malaysian labour.

- Labour laws are being tightened and being made more pro management;

- Low cost adequate housing is difficult to find.

- Prices of goods is rising faster than wages! Petrol, toll and now flour.

- Basic services – health care, education, roads, water - which used to be heavily subsidized are now becoming increasingly expensive;

THE Government has no plan to set up a special investment fund to help uplift the economic position of the Indian community in the country, Malaysia Nanban reported.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Suliman said the Government had used various mechanisms to help the Indians and to ensure that the targeted 3% equity ownership by the community during the Ninth Malaysia Plan period was achieved.

He said various efforts had been taken to increase the participation of Indians in the economy and help uplift their economic status .

Abdul Rahman, replying to a question from K. Devamany (BN – Cameron Highlands) in the Dewan Rakyat, said the mechanisms included Perbadanan Nasional Berhad investment schemes, expanding access to financial assistance, and training for entrepreneurs as well as providing business licences to encourage them to venture into business.

Kuala Lumpur: A candlelight vigil at Hindu temples to protest the detention of five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has been condemned by Malaysian minister of Indian origin S Samy Vellu.

The sentiments of two million-plus Hindus had been hurt by the "desecration of a place of worship", Works Minister Vellu said on Sunday.

"Hindus do not use candles in temples ... we use the kuttu vilaku (oil lamp).

From the feedback I got, (other) Hindus are very unhappy over this," Vellu was quoted as saying by The New Straits Times on Monday.

Five leaders of Hindraf were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) after they organised a protest rally on November 15 last year.

The government has charged them with having terrorist links, a charge they have denied.The government had declared the rally illegal and dispersed it.

Thirty-one participants are being persecuted for "threatening peace".

Hindraf claims to speak for the two million Tamil Hindus, while the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) that Vellu heads speaks for the ethnic Indians who form roughly eight percent of Malaysia's 27 million population.

Other groups among ethnic Indians include Telugus, Malayalees, Sikhs and Hindi-speaking people from north India.

Political overtones are discernible in the debate with The Star saying that all parties are preparing for early general elections.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, during an interview on CNN, "confirmed for the first time that he was going to go for an early polls to seek a fresh mandate. He even said that the elections would be held before May", The Star said.

While Vellu and his MIC are part of the Badawi led coalition Barisan Nasional, there are also pockets of support among ethnic Indians from some other parties, including Gerakan and Democratic Action Party (DAP). Some Hindraf leaders belong to DAP.

Last minute conversion while a patient is dying is not an uncommon phenomenon.

Ask anyone who has worked in a hospital before, they will tell you this.

Sometimes when a person is very ill, there will be certain religious workers (not from the dying man’s faith) coming to visit him , comforting him and perhaps even praying for him .

Sometimes the dying person is asked to pray together with them. Often this is done when the dying man’s relatives are not around.

SO when the person dies, a dispute can sometimes occur. Those workers will come forward and claim that the dead man has embraced their faith at the last minute, and very often it is their words against the relatives words.

When a person is very ill, he might not be in the right frame of mind to decide whether he should stick to the faith that he has believed all his life, or changed to the faith that those preachers are preaching.

Very often he would allow these people to pray for him out of courtesy , out of apprehension of death or, simply, he is so ill he does not know what is really going on around him.

It is really inconceivable to think that a person will abandon something that he has believed all his life all of a sudden and embraced the new religion.

It is also inconceivable that he can understand and believe in something within such a short time.

When there is a dispute arising out of this, the people that suffer most will be the spouse and the family.

All religions profess compassion. No religion would want to cause such great sufferings and sadness to the family .

It is only the action of the overzealous followers of religions, who may just follow the form but not the true spirits of their religious teachings, that is causing so much of sufferings and bitterness.

God would not condone this.

God would not want a family to be separated, either in life or in death.

A reader who is also a fellow blogger under the name of “A True Malaysian” said it all.

I feel miserable with this kind of thing happening.

When a husband passed away, irrespective of what his religion or belief, his body should rightfully goes to the custody of his wife / family. This is only fair.

What kind of funeral rite to be performed over the body should be decided by his wife / family, definitely not by third party.

By all means pray for the dying person.

By all means do all the good deeds to help him. But if ever he wishes to be converted in his death bed, please let the family know in advance.

It would be better to try to convert someone when they are healthy and kicking, so that they are in the right frame of mind to decide whether there is anything in the new faith for them to abandon their old faith and convert.

To convert someone just for the sake of converting or for the sake of statistics is not what God wishes.

If you wish to convert someone, you must make sure that he really understands and fully believes in the teachings of that particular faith.

Otherwise, you may keep his body there, but his heart will be somewhere else.

Would be really great if we can reach out and have the support of all Malaysians in this initiative.First thing would be to read and sign the petition online.

Next would be to refrain from buying the lies these MSM newspapers are feeding us and make them realise that we can think and we refuse to be exploited and have our intelligence insulted by people who have shunned away their responsibility to provide the truth in an impartial manner to us.

RE: HINDRAF URGES SUPPORTERS NOT TO BE BLINDED WITH POLITICAL OPINIONS /OPPOSITION

HINDRAF CALLS FOR TALKS ON MALAYSIAN INDIANS’ FUTURE WITH POLITICAL PARTIES.

HINDRAF has always maintained it’s non-partisan stand and has always steered clear of party politics or align itself with any political party including the opposition

However HINDRAF cannot deny it has “Political Friends” both from within the ruling as well as opposition parties who have supported us in our cause for the protection of the ethnic minority Indian rights in Malaysia.

Hence taking into consideration of the upcoming general election, HINDRAF is now forced to advice the Malaysian Indians on “Whom to Vote”.

HINDRAF calls upon the Indian community not to blindly assume that by voting for the opposition political party in the next upcoming General Elections would solve the problems of oppression, suppression, marginalization and permanent colonization of the ethnic Indian community.

HINDRAF urges the political parties to:

a) Be transparent, fair and equitable in the distribution of seats to the Indian candidates both Parliamentary as well as State seats.

b) Make their manifesto extremely clear as to their commitment for advocating and implementing Indian rights should they be elected to lead the next Government.

The 18 Point Demands made and submitted by HINDRAF to the Prime Minister are crystal clear on the needs and thirst of the Indian community to undo 50 years of Political and Socio Economic violations of the UMNO led Malaysian Government.

These points should be the paramount consideration in respect to the Indian needs.

I call upon the interested political parties to immediately engage in talks on the above two crucial aspects as soon as possible so that we can advice the Malaysian Indian community “ Whom to Vote”.

Malaysian Indians have been cheated in the political arena for 50 years by the UMNO led BARISAN Government.

HINDRAF’s leaders have made great sacrifices to relate this message to the Malaysian Indian community.

We will not betray the trust of Malaysian Indian community on HINDRAF’S leadership and will not advice the Malaysian Indians to place “a blind hope” on either BARISAN or the Opposition party unless we are satisfied the above two issues are adequately addressed.

HINDRAF is also happy to engage in dialogue with BARISAN subject to releasing the 5

The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), which has been observing the habeas corpus hearing for five Hindraf leaders held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), believes that the five should be allowed to challenge the grounds of their detention.

FIDH representative Laurie Berg said that the five face no charges and have been detained at the government’s pleasure and are only capable of challenging their detention on “narrow technical grounds”.

“The detainees were not even allowed to be present to witness the process of their own cases,” said Berg during a press conference organised by the Abolish the ISA Movement (GMI) today.

Counsel for the five, Karpal Singh, had argued in court that the Dec 13 detention order, signed by Internal Security Minister and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was flawed on technical grounds.

Judicial commissioner Zainal Azman Abdul Aziz said he needed a month to go through the case and will decide on Feb 26 on whether the proper trial would take place.

PM’s word

During the press conference today, Berg shared her thoughts on the case and believed that the five should have been charged for their alleged offences in order for them to defend themselves in an open court.

“At present, the world only has the word of the Prime Minister that these men are a threat to national security,” added Berg.

She added that FIDH, a body recognised by the United Nations, would be publishing a report on the case soon. She said the report would then be used to lobby international support to condemn the use of the ISA.

Lawyer Saha Arunasalam, who represented the Bar Council in watching brief during the habeas corpus proceedings, said the council was of the opinion that the five were illegally detained.

He added that the Bar Council was of the opinion that the use of the ISA was arbitrary, subject to abuse and should be abolished.

“The law has vested so much power in just one person in order to carry out the detention,” said Saha.

90 being detained

The ISA is a draconian law which allows indefinite detention without trial on the sole discretion of the internal security minister.

There are about 90 individuals being held under law presently.

GMI president Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said the coalition would be stepping their campaign against the ISA during the upcoming general election.

“We’re going to use every means necessary to educate the public on why the ISA must be abolished.

They must be made to know that the only way ISA can be abolished is through Parliament,” he said.

"I don’t want to discuss candidacy at this point. However, as they are party members, they are definitely qualified to be nominated," said Lim.

In 1978, the party fielded two ISA detainees Chan Kok Kit and Chang Heng Kai in the Sungai Besi and Batu Gajah parliamentary seats respectively.

Both individuals won the seats comfortably, but Lim stressed that they were both incumbents.

The duo were detained for nearly five years under the ISA for alleged communist links that was never proven.

Monaharan and Ganabatirau are by comparison less experienced in the polls. However, the former contested, and lost, once for the Segambut parliamentary seat in 1999.Support from community

Counsel for the five Hindraf leaders and DAP vice-chairperson M Kulasegaran said he had received many requests from party supporters and the Indian community to push the detainees into the political ring.

This includes nominating Hindraf’s most recognisable face, lawyer P Uthayakumar, as a candidate in Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in a face-off with MIC president Samy Vellu.

"Then again, there are also many who are against this idea because they want the Hindraf leaders to remain solely as an NGO voice," said Kulasegaran, who is also Ipoh Barat MP.

Elaborating, Kulasegaran said the five Hindraf leaders shot to fame not for political reasons but for organising the Nov 25 rally which drew tens of thousands of Indians calling for equal rights and an end to marginalisation of the community.

"They did not hold any political banner. They were there as a common front without portraying any political objectives," he added.

As such, Kulasegaran stressed that the chances of fielding detained Hindraf leaders as candidates would depend on the detainees themselves, public sentiment and the party leadership.DAP to meet detainees

Another counsel for the five Hindraf leaders, A Sivanesan, told Malaysiakini that DAP leaders are expected to visit the detainees soon to discuss "political matters".

According to Sivanesan, who is also an active DAP member, he had received a letter from Manoharan which indicated that the latter was interested in "playing a role" in the upcoming general election.

Sivanesan was however declined to elaborate on the matter.

In another development, Moharan and Uthayakumar were said to be in "high spirits" following their discharge on Tuesday from the Taiping general hospital following a hunger strike.

Lawyer Edmund Bon, who was part of a Bar Council delegation to the Kamunting detention centre yesterday, said the duo appeared to be recovering from their hunger strike.

(The nine-member Bar Council team, led by vice-president K Ragunath, had visited the detention centre to visit ISA detainees and offer their legal assistance).

Uthayakumar was warded since Jan 24 while Manoharan was warded three days later. Initially, the five were supposed to be on hunger strike between Jan 21 to Jan 28 to protest their detention.

The five Hindraf leaders - including T Vasanthakumar and R Kenghadharan - were detained on Dec 13 for allegedly threatening national security. All five of them have filed habeas corpus applications to challenge their detention orders.

Malaysia has seen a clamp down on Human Rights. Some of those who dared to challenge have been arrested and face serious charges.A solidarity Picket took place today at the Malaysian Embassy at Shelbourne House today.

A brief photo report from a solidarity picket which took place today at the Malaysian Embassy at Shelbourne House, Shelbourne Road in the heart of Ballsbridge.Both the Irish and Malaysian States showed up and expressed an interest in the issue.

HUNGER STRIKE of the Makkal Iyakkam/ Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA was held just beside the main celebration for Thaipusam @ Kallu Malai. The rock cave was splattered with red paintings of “Mansuhkan ISA” and “Makkal Sakthi” wordings.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday (30 Jan) accused the government of using Islam to gain political mileage in upcoming general elections, causing growing racial and religious tension in multiethnic Malaysia.

Mahathir said government and Islamic court decisions in a spate of interfaith conflicts that have sparked concerns among non-Muslim minorities for their religious rights were driven by political interest, and not based on the true teachings of Islam.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government, which is preparing for elections likely to be called in March, is worried it may lose votes to the opposition Pan-Islamic Party, or PAS, Mahathir told reporters following the launch of his new book.

"It's no longer religion, it's politics," said Mahathir, who retired in 2003 after 22 years in power.

"If (the decisions) reflect the true teachings of Islam, we will have no problem with non-Muslims."

He warned the situation could be destabilizing as racial harmony is fragile in Malaysia.

Ethnic Malay Muslims, who comprise about 60% of Malaysia's 27 million people, form the bedrock of political support for Abdullah's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party which heads the ruling coalition.

UMNO's main challenge comes from the PAS, which controls one of Malaysia's 13 states and endorses a hard-line Islamic governing style.

Minority ethnic Chinese and Indians, who comprise the rest of the population, have voiced growing fears in recent years that their religions get second-class treatment.

National debates have erupted over religious disputes prompted by government actions such as a ban on conversions from Islam and the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. Interfaith court cases in recent years have also usually ended with the Muslim side winning.

While the ruling coalition is expected to win easily in upcoming polls, Abdullah last week said it would not be able to repeat its huge success of 2004 amid public anger over inflation, rising crime and growing racial and religious tensions.

The coalition won 90% of parliamentary seats in 2004 polls, held about five months after Abdullah took over the reins from Mahathir.

Mahathir, 82, renewed his attacks on his hand-picked successor Abdullah, saying he provided weak leadership, confused Muslims with his new concept of progressive Islam, called Islam Hadhari, and that he mismanaged the economy.

Abdullah "didn't show good judgment" in economic policies and should hand over the reins to his deputy Najib Razak after the polls, he suggested.

Abdullah, whose popularity has dwindled, recently launched big-spending development projects to spur growth in rural parts of the country.

I was arrested at 4:30 pm on Jan 26, at a food court in the vicinity of Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, Kuala Lumpur.

I was released unconditionally from Pudu Jail (now known as Balai Polis Jalan Hang Tuah) at approximately 10:30 pm on Jan 27 after a magistrate rejected a remand application by the police to further detain me, a lawyer, and nine other people, including PKR’s Tian Chua and PAS’ Dr Hatta Ramli.

Obviously, I was annoyed that I was arrested whilst I was trying to ask the police why they wanted to arrest Tian Chua and Hatta, especially when they were merely having drinks and talking to journalists at that time.

I knew that the over-zealous Special Branch personnel arbitrarily decided to arrest me because I questioned their actions.

I was amazed by how lightly police officers deal with the constitutional liberty of a citizen, not to mention a lawyer, who is otherwise also known as an ‘officer of the court’.

I should highlight here also that I was not informed of the grounds of my arrest at any point of time, whether during my arrest, detention and subsequent ‘investigation’.

Luckily, sense, or maybe conscience, prevailed over the magistrate who heard the remand application against the ten of us who had the same investigating officer.

To the amazement of everyone, including the lawyers who defended all of us, the magistrate said that she was releasing us (unconditionally) because she did not find any evidence to show that the ten of us were linked to the Protes assembly that day.

By the time we walked out of Pudu Jail, I was deprived of 30 precious hours of freedom.

Why? All because I acted to question the arbitrary arrest of two Malaysian citizens who happened to be leaders in their respective political parties.

Politics aside, it is high time all Malaysians take a good look at what is happening to our country.

Do we want to let this go on? When are we going to make a stand and say ‘no more’?

(The Straits Times) Wednesday, 30 January 2008 -KUALA LUMPUR - A HINDU woman has spurned an offer by Malaysia's Islamic authorities to settle a dispute over her dead Muslim son's insurance policy in a case that highlights growing conflicts over religious rights, a lawyer said on Wednesday.

The Federal Territory Islamic Council offered Tuesday to give Rukumony Muthiah two-thirds of the 56,300 ringgit (S$24,178) death insurance of her son, a Muslim convert who died in 2000, Rukumony's lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira said.

In his insurance policy, Rukumony's son, Ragu Ellaiappan, whose Muslim name was Mohamed Redzuan Abdullah, named Rukumony as his beneficiary, Mr Darshan said.

But Islamic authorities have argued in court that under the country's religious laws for Muslims, a non-Muslim cannot claim inheritance from a Muslim, he said.

'Our federal constitution guarantees equality so how can you say a non-Muslim cannot inherit from a Muslim, but a Muslim can inherit from a non-Muslim?' Mr Darshan told reporters.

Islamic council officials familiar with the case could not immediately be reached.

The council's lawyers made the offer in High Court in northern Penang state on Tuesday, but Mr Darshan said it was a 'fairy tale offer' that was unacceptable.

Rukumony, a 61-year-old ethnic Indian widow, is willing to settle for 80 per cent of the total sum, Mr Darshan said.

The court scheduled to hear the case Mar 14.

His death certificate says he died of a brain infection at the age of 23, but the family believes there could be more suspicious causes linked to his stint as an army ranger because they have not been shown the post-mortem results, he said.

Malaysia's non-Muslim minorities say a spate of court cases in recent years, involving disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims, have usually ended with the Muslim side winning.

The legal conflicts have strained multiethnic ties in Malaysia, where ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 per cent of the 27 million people. Ethnic Chinese and Indians, whose faiths include Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, comprise the largest minorities. -- AP

The government is losing its senses and becoming obsessed when it empowers the police to arrest people participating in a peaceful demonstration..

This does not auger well for the image of Malaysia in the international arena as we can see foreign tourists are already passing adverse comments like ‘this government is crazy’ ‘the police are rude and atrocious’ etc.

The police are forced to do their duty as instructed by the government in power. Actually, the police - by their own code of conduct - should only do the right thing to maintain law and order in the nation. In order to sustain their neutrality and dignity, they should not be seen taking sides just to satisfy the ruling party .

If the police continue to harass the people when the people do things peacefully, the police will soon lose the respect and cooperation of the people.

The police must understand that respect and cooperation of the people are an integral part in solving crime which is on the rise in the country. Many high-profile cases are still unsolved despite wide publicity and the police should concentrate on solving such crimes especially kidnaping, rape and the killing of young children.

Its no wonder the country’s crime rate is up as the the police force is instead deployed to curb peaceful demonstrations. The Inspector-General of Police should politely tell the prime minister that the police’s priorities are to prevent crime, solve crime and maintain law and order.

At the recent Protes assembly, the police outnumbered the number of peaceful demonstrators giving a very distasteful image of Malaysia.

It gives the impression that Malaysia is a police state.This is also evident with the Hindraf 5 leaders, who are themselves lawyers, being detained under ISA on false charges of being terrorists, traitors etc.

Further, it is indeed ruthless of the police to handcuff one of the Hindraf lawyers, P Uthayakumar when he was hospitalised following a five-day fast he and the four other detainees undertook for their release.

The IGP should realise that these men are not guilty of what they were charged with and should recommend to the PM their immediate release from detention.

That is what People’s Parliament founder, activists-solicitor Haris Ibrahim said this morning, during the launching of the “Boycott Newspapers on Tuesday” campaign, at The Bloghouse, Damansara Heights.

“The consumers should get their money’s worth of balanced news and reporting”, when he explained on the campaign, initiated by a civil society movement, formed on-line.Haris hoped that the campaign will be carried through on-line by bloggers and websites, although all the mainstream media (MSM) editors were informed of this campaign, via sms, as a mark the of officiating the launch. Since internet have had more user in the country and movement and dissemination of information is seamless and efficient, the MSMs should be more aware of the demand and expectation of the more affluent readership.

According to Haris, lately the MSMs have been acting on the ‘instructions and benefit’ of the Government, despite the alternative medias report stories from an entirely different perspective and focus. When asked how is it different now as compared to five years ago, since broadband internet is already available then, he quipped “No difference!”.

When asked about the impact that they will achieve from the campaign, Haris explained that this is an awareness program and it should be carried on, “…. to ensure that the mainstream medias and newspaper carry balanced and unbiased news and reporting” and “…. the objective is not based on the rumours of the XIIth General Elections, luring around the corner”.

Examples he cited the discrepancies of the MSMs as stated in the People’s Parliament media statement,which was distributed to members of the media and bloggers attended, were:

1. Malaysia Kini reported on 9 October 2007 on the rapid increase of voters registration in Ipoh Timur2. The 10 November 2007 BERSIH rally from Dataran Merdeka to Istana Negara3. The Straits Times (Singapore)’s piece of the Pulau Batu Putih dispute in International Court of Justice, with regards of the Malaysian team’s argument4. The 25 November 2007 HINDRAF rally reporting5. The Port Klang Free Zone fiasco, reported in Malaysia Kini 19 December 20076. The MIC initiative of “Meet the PM session”, at the Badminton Stadium in Cheras on 21 January 2008

This is not the first time there is a boycott campaign against the MSMs. In the 90s, the Oppositions launched campaign against the MSMs, especially after former Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from Cabinet and UMNO on the 2 September 1998.

Abandoning Islam for Christianity is such a sensitive issue in Malaysia that many converts find themselves leading a secret, double life.

If people know that I've converted to Christianity, they might take the law into their own hands. If they are not broadminded, they might take a stone and throw it at me."

Maria - not her real name - is a young Malaysian woman who has lived a secret and sometimes fearful life since she converted from Islam to Christianity.

Apostasy, as it is known, has become one of the most controversial issues in Malaysia today.

Maria became a Christian over a decade ago when she was 18. She says no-one forced her to convert, that she made the decision after studying different religious texts.

If my family find out I am no longer a Muslim they will completely cut me offMaria

Conversion is deemed so sensitive in Malaysia that even the priest who baptised her refused to give her a baptismal certificate.

And, even now, the church she attends asked her to sign a declaration stating the church is not responsible for her conversion.

"My church says if the authorities come, they are not going to stand up for me. I have to stand up for myself," she said.

Not even Maria's family know she has converted.

"If my family find out I am no longer a Muslim they will completely cut me off. That means my name in the family will be erased.

"I could migrate, but the problem is I want to stay in Malaysia, because this is my country. And I love my family. I just want to live peacefully."

Heated debate

Malay-Muslims make up 60% of Malaysia's population. The rest are mostly Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

But many Malaysian Muslims believe that people like Maria pose a threat to Islam.

And the debate between those who say Maria should have the right to officially convert, and those who are against apostasy has become so heated that the prime minister has asked both sides not to discuss sensitive religious questions in public.

If the authorities find out, I will be in big troubleMariaFearful of what could happen, Maria would only talk to us on the phone from the privacy of her car.

She is very aware of the possible consequences of her decision to become a Christian if she is discovered.

"If the authorities find out, I will be in big trouble. They will create hell between me and my family, and hell in my life so that I will no longer get any privileges or employment."

Her fears are not unfounded. Another convert - Lina Joy - has been forced to go into hiding since her case went to court.

And at least one of the lawyers involved in that case has had a death threat against him.Apostasy order

An apostasy order has to be granted for docmentation to changeBoth Lina Joy and Maria want to make their conversion legal.

That means changing the identity cards that state they are Muslim.

Until now, the state has refused to do this until an apostasy order is granted from the Sharia court.

But both women claim they are no longer Muslim, so why should they go to the Sharia court?For Maria there is a lot at stake. She has a boyfriend who is also a Christian and knows she is too.The couple want to get married. But while Maria is still officially a Muslim, the only way they could wed in Malaysia would be if he converted to Islam.And Maria's family - unhappy with her choice of partner - are pressuring him to do just that.

Crucial time

Maria is tired of living a double life.

"It's very frustrating," she tells us tearfully. "It means I have to limit my scope with friends.

"I have to be able to completely trust someone before I dare to reveal myself.

"I know some other secret converts, but I never keep in touch with them.

"I can't let my network widen, because you don't always know who you are dealing with."

I feel that I am all alone in this struggle

MariaOnly a tiny number of people have converted from Islam in Malaysia.

But the coming months will be crucial for them because a decision is expected in the case of Lina Joy.

The outcome of that case may well determine whether Maria will be able to live the life she dreams of - to be married to her boyfriend and live openly as a Christian.

Right now she can't imagine it.

"I feel that I am all alone in this struggle," she says, "and I am frightened because I am alone against the odds."

I thought I would check out the atmosphere at the DAP ceramah at the Penang Chinese Town Hall in George Town tonight to gauge the mood among voters. The theme: “Bebaskan Hindraf 5 (Free the Hindraf Five).”

When I arrived at the hall at around 8.00pm, it was full. More people were arriving and soon they were spilling out of the hall, where two screens had been put up for those outside to watch the proceedings.

The total turnout was around 3,000, including the few hundred outside the hall.

This was not your typical DAP ceramah. I had covered ceramahs in Penang, including those held at the Chinese Town Hall, for some years - but this was unlike anything I had seen.

Instead of an 80 per cent ethnic Chinese crowd, this time Indian Malaysians made up more than 90 per cent of the crowd. Instead of speaking in English and Chinese, the DAP speakers spoke largely in Malay and Tamil and some English.

The Chinese Malaysians who turned up looked bemused and a bit taken aback to find themselve in a minority this time. One Chinese woman, a stranger, turned to me and remarked, “After 50 years of Independence, you have finally woken up” - which sounded a bit strange; she was talking as if I represented the entire Indian Malaysian community in the country!

I was more interested in observing the crowd. Of course, the middle-class were represented, but

I saw many, many men and women who looked like they had come from tough or difficult backgrounds, the lower-income group. Were they manual labourers, casual workers, factory workers or unemployed, I wondered.

Many of them looked like they were coming to a political ceramah for the first time.How many of them were actually registered voters?All the same, they seemed eager to snap up reading material such as The Rocket and Aliran Monthly, which were being sold outside.I saw a few young Indian Malaysian men wearing the familiar red and pink Abolish ISA badges.

You could almost feel the air of excitement hanging over the crowd.

The DAP made a conscious effort to project the Indian Malaysian faces in their ranks such as Karpal, Kula, Prof Ramasamy, Guna, Sivanesan and Rayan. Also on stage were Kit Siang, Guan Eng, Chong Eng and was that Jeff Ooi?

Guan Eng told the crowd he had asked quite a few Hindus what they were praying for on Thaipusam and they replied, “For the release of the Hindraf Five.”

“But what did Abdullah Badawi give you?” he asked. “A public holiday!”

He also poked fun at Lingam’s “it looks like me; it sounds like me”.The crowd laughed, knowingly, at the farce.

As for the detained Hindraf leaders who are now on a hunger strike, the joke going around is that if ever Uthayakumar, who is a diabetic, needed a blood transfusion, the authorities would be wary of appealing to the public for blood donations. That’s because they might have to call in the FRU to control the thousands who would turn up to donate blood!

All the DAP speakers received a rousing welcome as they entered the hall, including a big cheer for Karpal, who is the senior lawyer for the detained Hindraf leaders. Karpal, speaking while seated on stage, told the crowd the DAP was “adopting” Makkal Sakthi.

To me, there are pros and cons of a popular movement such as Makkal Sakthi being institutionalised as or within a political party. We saw that during Reformasi, when Keadilan was set up to institutionalise the movement and take the struggle to a political level.

An anonymous popular movement is spontaneous, dynamic and organic, representing “people power” from the bottom up.

In contrast, a political party tends to be structured and organised while decisions are made at the top. This makes it less spontaneous and more predictable. It also makes it easier for tacticians in the Barisan Nasional, who have mastered the art of our unfair electoral process and campaigning, to read and analyse and deal with during the general election.

That is why reformasi was exciting and unpredictable and dynamic, but once it was institutionalised within a political party (Keadilan), the movement lost some of its dynamism and spontaneity.

In fact, my guess is that the BN would be much more comfortable dealing with opposition parties than with anonymous popular movements such as Reformasi and Makkal Sakthi.

Still, I suppose political parties have a role to play in putting across the people’s aspirations into the official policy formulation process. But it would be a great pity if the politicians were to take over in such a way as to leave the people - who have only just tasted a sense of liberation from their metaphorical shackles - feeling disempowered once again.

Okay, back to the ceramah: Karpal also informed the crowd that there was a high probability that Guan Eng would stand as a candidate in Penang in the general election.

Outside the hall, a couple of DAP volunteers at a desk were giving out forms to those who wanted to sign up as polling day volunteers to assist the party. About half a dozen young Indian Malaysians were busy filling up the forms.

I asked the DAP volunteer at the desk how many people had signed up. She flicked through the stack of forms and counted around 30. Others had taken forms, promising to return them later, she said.

From the back of the hall, I could see the a sprinkling of folks who had come in the orange attire of Makkal Sakthi, including the Makkal Sakthi T-shirts.

A visitor from KL marvelled at the mood here in Penang, which he said seemed more enthusiastic than in KL. “Perhaps it’s because the folks over in KL have quite a few different events to choose from.”

I left the ceramah before it ended, convinced that there has been a major swing within the Indian Malaysian community.

On my way back, I walked past the Pitt Street Corner Bar, a stone’s throw from the Chinese Town Hall. It is usually an oasis for those seeking “refreshments” on a Saturday night. Today, it looked rather quiet - a few empty seats around metallic tables inside - despite the presence of a large crowd nearby.

Even as more Malaysians were being detained in KL earlier today, the mood in Penang - at least among these 3,000 people - was one of newfound strength and solidarity in a community that has awakened from it slumber.

More than that, a sense of empowerment has descended on the people - a feeling that I can and will make a difference, and what I do really does matter.

And this mood was infectious. Even the Chinese DAP volunteers outside the hall found themselves calling out, “Makkal Sakthi!“

Would Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu be dropped as a Barisan Nasional candidate in the next general election?

This question does not sound so far-fetched and unthinkable now as the query which I posed a fortnight ago as to whether Samy Vellu would back out of contest in Sungai Siput in the next general election during my two-day 14-place "whistlestop" campaign in Perak to highlight the DAP national general election theme of "Good Cops, Safe Malaysia".

I had said on 12th January that Samy Vellu had become the lightning rod of the long-suppressed anger and frustration of the Malaysian Indians over their long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization in the country and the very personification to the Malaysian Indian community of everything that is wrong and unfair about

Barisan Nasional policies in the past three decades which have reduced them into the new underclass in Malaysia.I said:"If Samy Vellu re-contests in Sungai Siput in the next general election expected within 65 days, again leading the MIC election campaign, MIC parliamentary and state assembly candidates throughout the country will face massive rejection by the Malaysian Indian voters.

"Are MIC leaders trying to find a way to convey and convince Samy Vellu that the best service he can do to the MIC after being the MIC President and sole Malaysian Indian Minister for close to three decades is for him to fully absorb the anger and frustration of the Malaysian Indians at the MIC failure to check the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians by accepting full personal responsibility and not contesting in the next general election – thus saving the MIC slate of parliamentary and state assembly candidates from the full wrath of the Indian community in the polls?"

Undoubtedly, my statement a fortnight ago struck a chord in the MIC and there were moves behind-the-scene to prepare for an alternative leadership – which has angered Samy Vellu resulting in the reported sidelining of the MIC leaders concerned.

However, things are moving very fast in the Malaysian political scene with Parliament expected to be dissolved in the next one month – with the political fate of Samy Vellu moving one notch further, from whether he could be persuaded to step down as MIC President and withdraw asMIC parliamentary candidate in the next general election to whether he would be dropped as a Barisan Nasional candidate in the next general election.

The political weather is getting cold and wintry for Samy Vellu, not only among the Malaysian Indians since the watershed Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 last year, but also in the Barisan Nasional coalition.

This was why Samy Vellu's answer to my question a fortnight ago, announcing that he would definitely be contesting for the ninth time in Sungai Siput in the next general election, was received with such flak and hostility from UMNO.

""Jangan terlalu yakin."In the Bisik Bisik column, Awang Selamat said no doubt it was a practice in Barisan Nasional that component party leaders contest in the elections, but questioned if it was appropriate for the MIC president to make a brazen remark in such a tone. The columnist said nevertheless "knowing Samy Vellu's style," the leader's comments did not really come as a surprise.

"But 'political talk' concerning Samy Vellu was really hot last year. The issue now is when will there be a transition of power in MIC," asked the columnist.He pointed out that Umno, MCA and Gerakan have all seen the passing of the baton, but there were no such sign in MIC.

The broad hints that it is time for Samy to leave the political scene were spelt out the next day when Utusan Malaysia eported criticisms from the Umno Puteri leader, Datuk Noraini Ahmad, the Pahang Umno Youth leader, Datuk Khairuddin Yaakob and even the Umno National Vice President Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam – indicating whether Samy Vellu can continue as MIC President and be a candidate for the ninth time in Sungai Siput may no longer be in the hands of MIC or MIC President and will have to be decided by Umno.

This is because Samy Vellu is increasingly regarded not only as a liability to MIC but also to Umno and Barisan Nasional. Who must bear the greatest responsibility for the sharp drop in the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's approval rating among the Indians which plunged from 82% in September 2007 to 38 % in December 2007 if not Samy Vellu?

Dare Samy Vellu publicly assert that he will definitely continue as MIC President and be a Barisan Nasional candidate in Sungai Siput in the next general election and that nobody and nothing in the world can stop him from doing so?Lim Kit Siang

Vincent Tan denies he's taking over The Sun to curb criticism of the govt

MALAYSIAN tycoon Vincent Tan Chee Yioun says his takeover of The Sun newspaper was motivated solely by business considerations, dismissing widespread speculation that it was due to political pressure.

'This was purely a business transaction. We already own such a big stake, and it only made sense for us to take control,' he told The Straits Times.

Tan Sri Tan's flagship corporate vehicle Berjaya Corp last Friday announced a deal to acquire a near 36 per cent interest in Nexnews from businessman Tong Kooi Ong for RM139.24 million (S$61 million).

The sale of Mr Tong's entire stake in Nexnews pushed Berjaya Corp's holdings in Nexnews to over 54 per cent. The deal effectively ends the five-year media alliance between the two businessmen.

Nexnews is the holding company that controls The Sun, a feisty free tabloid that has become popular in recent years because of its often bold coverage of government corruption, politics and religious issues.

Mr Tong is the majority shareholder of the media group that publishes business weekly The Edge in Malaysia and Singapore.

Forbes magazine last year listed Tan Sri Tan as the 14th-richest Malaysian, with assets of US$380 million (S$540 million).

Financial executives close to the two businessmen say talks are under way for Tan Sri Tan to sell his interest in The Edge back to Mr Tong.

The main cause of the break- up was their disagreement over the newspaper's editorial stance, which had begun to irk Malaysia's political elite, the executives said.

But Tan Sri Tan said he had no plans to significantly alter the paper's editorial stance.'It will be status quo. But as owners (of The Sun), we would prefer to be friends with everyone,' he said.

Tan Sri Tan started The Sun in 1993, but it struggled financially because it could not draw advertisers. In early 2003, he turned to Mr Tong, who had established himself as a serious media player because of his stewardship of The Edge.

The two men consolidated their respective media holdings under the management of Mr Tong and his team, led by senior journalist Ho Kay Tat.

The new team radically altered The Sun's business model, turning it into a free publication and boosting circulation to the current 265,000 copies daily.

The loss-incurring newspaper company turned a small profit last year by luring away advertising revenue from rivals The New Straits Times and The Star dailies.

In recent years, The Sun has distinguished itself from its two main rivals by its bold coverage of mismanagement at government agencies and municipal councils.

But these moves drew sharp attacks from politicians and government officials, who complained that the paper was prone to championing issues promoted by opposition parties and portraying the government in a less than positive light.

Executives at The Sun say Mr Ho was often asked by officials from the Home Ministry to explain the paper's independent coverage.

Tan Sri Tan has dismissed suggestions that he and Mr Tong sharply disagreed over how The Sun should be managed.

'I have no problems with Tong. Overall, he and (Ho) Kay Tat did a great job to make The Sun the recognisable brand that it is today,' he said

It must have been a great scene – 15,000 Indians from all over the country packing the Cheras badminton stadium in Kuala Lumpur and greeting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with a thunderous standing ovation and bursting into applause at his declaration that Thaipusam a public holiday for the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

It must have been indeed a great morale booster for the prime minister and more so for MIC president,Datuk Seri Samy Velu,whose credibility has been seriously undermined since the Hindaf rally last November.

Prime Minister aknowledging to applause(Malaysiakini)We are told that busloads of people were ferried to the stadium, entertained by singers and provided food and drinks. I wonder how many of them would have really turned out for ‘An evening with the prime minister’ if they were subjected to the same conditions as the Hindraf protesters on Nevember 25 – no police permits, own transport, police intimidation, tear gas, water canons, arrests and imprisonment?Large crowd in Cheras Badminton Stadium(Malaysiakini)By granting a public holiday the government and Samy Velu hope the problems of the Indian community will be overcome, at least for another five years.

Is the Indian community so naïve as to believe this simplistic solution to their problems? If that was so then the Hindraf leaders must be stupid for having resorted to their actions, branded as terrorists and jailed under ISA.

The problems of the Indians are more complex and deep rooted to be solved by declaring Thaipusam a holiday.

Their pathetic state of the Indians is due to the accumulated effects of their marginalization in the government and private sectors for over 50 years. They have been systematically denied their dues in the pretext of restructuring society.

In fact the PM says he had to make it a holiday more because of the massive traffic that occurs on Thaipusam day in the Federal capital, rather than giving in to the demands of the Indian community.Furthemore he dare not even declare it a national holiday as requested by the MIC and the Indians community for more than 10 years.

Most Malaysians believe it is more of a political gimmick coming at a time of general elections.

What the Indian community needs now is not another public holiday; many young Indians have more than they need, as they are unemployed. What they need is fair opportunities for education, training, jobs and business. They need fair opportunities in the civil service, police and armed forces.

Selection for recruitment into these institutions and admissions to public universities must be based strictly on merits. They want freedom to practice their culture and religion without official impediment.

In short they want to be treated with respect and dignity as equal citizens in the country they helped to develop.Is this too much to ask from the government they helped to elect and stood by for 50 years?

JOHOR BARU: Angry parents held a meeting with a school in Taman Daya after their Year Six children were asked to clean the toilets on Friday.

They lodged a police report on the matter on Saturday, prompting the state Education Department to intervene.

Department director Mokhy Saidon together with the headmistress, teachers, and parents of the 20 pupils held a meeting at the school yesterday, with policemen on standby to ensure order.Special session: Darshiney answering questions asked by Mokhy (sitting) during the meeting at the school in Johor Baru.

During the two-hour meeting, headmistress Siti Latifah Adnan explained that the toilet-cleaning activity was part of a cleanliness competition organised by the Johor Baru City Council.

The school even showed photos taken during the one-hour activity to convince the parents that the activity was not targeted at just a group of pupils. The parents refused to accept the explanation.

After the meeting, a teacher involved in the activity broke down and cried hysterically saying that she loved the children.

Other teachers consoled her and took her out of the meeting room.Parent M. Anbalagan said instead of studying, his son and a group of other Year 6 pupils were washing toilets.

“This is an important year for the pupils and they should be revising for their UPSR,” he said.B. Darshiney, 12, said the activity took place during the Moral Education period.

“Other students went for their religious class while we went to the toilet,” the girl added.Mokhy who later met the press said the problem resulted from a misunderstanding among all parties.

[SOURCE: The Star]

"headmistress Siti Latifah Adnan explained that the toilet-cleaning activity was part of a cleanliness competition organised by the Johor Baru City Council."

"B. Darshiney, 12, said the activity took place during the Moral Education period."

“Other students went for their religious class while we went to the toilet,” the girl added.

Can all of you see the situation here? The Malay students go to Islamic Classes.. but the non-Malays were made to clean toilets!!!

And what does the headmistess say? Cleanliness competition!! So why doesn't she involve the Malays as well for the competition??

British Hindus are to hold a silent protest outside the office of the British premier this week to highlight the 'new lite-Taliban' policies of the Malaysian government, an umbrella group for Hindus said Tuesday.

The Hindu Council UK (HCUK) said Hindus would present a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown Friday to protest the condition of Malaysian Hindus, 'who number two million and are suffering religious persecution' by the government in Kuala Lumpur.

It said Hindu temples have been razed and damaged in Malaysia, 'irrespective of their age' but added that the silent protest was against human rights violations of not only Hindus but also other religious minorities of Malaysia.

The issue hit the headlines in November last year when Malaysian police used violence to break up a march by Hindus in the capital Kuala Lumpur and arrested 31 protesters, five of whom, HCUK said, were still in detention.

The police action was criticised around the world.

Last month, members of the British parliament demanded that the Malaysian government scrap plans to demolish Hindu temples and to allow legitimate protests against it.

In a strongly worded statement, they also urged the British government to take up the matter on their behalf and 'make the strongest possible representation' to Kuala Lumpur.

HCUK general secretary Anil Bhanot, in a statement Friday, likened the Malaysian government's attitude to that of 'the Taliban ideology which destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas (in Afghanistan),' and said it needed to be 'challenged for re-education.'

'We appeal to world communities to help stop the lite-talibanisation of the Malaysia government through trade and other means,' Bhanot added.

30 Januari 2008Prime Minister Abdullah's claim that Malaysia is currently ranked 8th in the world in terms of competitiveness is deliberately misleading.

Closer examination of the data reveals that this is true only within the category of countries with a population of 20 million or more According to the full World Competitiveness Report 2007 as cited by the Prime Minister, Malaysia is in fact ranked only 23rd in the world. Fifteen of the twenty-two countries ranked above Malaysia in 2007 have populations of less than 20 million people, while seven of the twenty-two have populations exceeding 20 million.

Malaysia's competitiveness ranking in 2006 was 22nd, and in 1997, it was 17th.

Prime Minister Abdullah's decision to resort to such misdirection is a weak attempt to hide the fact that Malaysia's economic fundamentals have weakened progressively under his government.

Malaysia's competitiveness is plumetting and where once our economy stood shoulder to shoulder with countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, we are now ranked 23rd in the world, they are ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Malaysia is clearly in need of a higher calibre of leadership if we Malaysia is to realise its full potential as an economy of global stature.

The formula for calculating the Inflation Rate using the Consumer Price Index is relatively simple. Every month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys prices and generates the current Consumer Price Index (CPI). Let us assume for the sake of simplicity that the index consists of one item and that one item cost $1.00 in 1984. The BLS published the index in 1984 at 100. If today that same item costs $1.85 the index would stand at 185.0

By looking at the above example, common sense would tell us that the index increased (it went from 100 to 185). The question is how much has it increased? To calculate the change we would take the second number (185) and subtract the first number (100). The result would be 85. So we know that since 1984 prices increased (Inflated) by 85 points.

What good does knowing that it moved 85 do? Not much. We still need a method of comparison.

Since we know the increase in the Consumer Price Index we still need to compare it to something, so we compare it to the price it started at (100). We do that by dividing the increase by the first price or 85/100. the result is (.85). This number is still not very useful so we convert it into a percent. To do that we multiply by 100 and add a % symbol.So the result is an 85% increase in prices since 1984.

How Does Inflation Affect You?

When people go the the grocery store and see ever higher prices they know how inflation affects them. But when they are feeling more philosophical they might reason that if all wages and prices increased at the same rate it would all balance out in the end right?

Well theoretically yes but in reality it never works that way. Prices of various items all increase at different rates so some people are benefiting while others suffer. Those on fixed incomes suffer the most because the cost of things they are buying increases but their income stays the same.

There are 3.22 Million Indians in America.38% of Doctors in America are Indians.12% of Scientists in America are Indians.36% of NASA employees are Indians.34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians.28% of IBM employees are Indians. 17% of INTEL employees are Indians. 13% of XEROX employees are Indians. You may know some of these facts.These facts were recently published in a German Magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.

India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.India invented the Number System. Aryabhatta invented zero. The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC.More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects.The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages.Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software reported in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.

Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The Word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.

Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart.; Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days. Budhayana first calculated the value of pi, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India; Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century ; The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 10 6(10 to the power of 6) whereas Hindus Used numbers as big as 1053 (10 to the power of 53) with specific names as Early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 1012(10 to the power of 12).

According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896,India was the only source for century-old suspicion in the world scientifi community that the pioneer of Wireless communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.

Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.

Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization). The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

QUOTES ABOUT INDIA:

Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Mark Twain said: India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most structive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.

French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.

Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered And dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

All the above is just the TIP of the iceberg, the list could be endless.

Lingam: The constitution judges said the constitution said, in the opinion of the prime minister he recommend. Who the prime minister recommend?

So you are Dzaiddin, you are chief justice, you recommend 10 names, I consent, I said I want these 15 names, can’t do anything. He recommend to rulers, rulers only consulted, not approve, only consult. You know?

[Voice off-camera]: Because if it goes up to the Court of Appeal…

Lingam: Now Dzaiddin wants to come through the PM because he wants his Tun-ship. So…he doing everything to please the PM lah, but he recommended five judges, three…three approved, which is Tun Eusoff Chin’s men, two not Eusoff Chin’s men which we objected. I prepared the report and rejected… but he wants to appeal again lah.

[Voice off-camera]: Can he appeal?

Lingam: He can appeal lah, but will be rejected lah.

[Voice off-camera]: I never know appointment can be rejected you know?

Lingam: No, recommendation can be rejected. The PM shall recommend so and so, after consulting so and so. So, PM suppose to consult Loh Mui Fah before he recommends. So Loh Mui Fah recommend 10 names, he in fact can say I disagree with your 10 names, I recommend Gurm…Lingam and so and so. Nothing you can do. You are only…you are supposed to be consulted, not to be approved. You see the point or not? The constitution said consult. I suppose to consult my father before I marry, I consulted him, he disagreed but still I married!

[Voice off-camera]: Because that is not final, ah.Lingam: Right, consult is to discuss. That’s all. But if I must get my father’s approval before married, then different. Approval different from consult.

[Voice off-camera]: So, who is the lord president now?

Lingam: Now chief justice Dzaiddin.

[Voice off-camera]: Dzaiddin…Lingam: But between you and me. We have taken Dzaiddin for dinner three times.

[Voice off-camera]: Three times already.

Lingam: And we have given him the most expensive gift. Don’t ask about it lah. I have given him and Vincent Tan has given him. So, he also cannot attack us. Tomorrow we go say we give you this, this, this. He cannot go and say you are a agent. Correct or not? So, he is neither here nor there lah. That’s all.

[Voice off-camera]: But… Chief Justice..

Lingam: But in the court when I argue with him. He said, Datuk Lingam you said you will take one hour. I said, my Lord, it is only 50 minutes, I got another 10 minutes. But…I appreciate. Thank you, thank you… He is very nice with me, very polite with me. I have been sending cakes every Hari Raya. Vincent has been sending. He can’t go and say he is very clean, correct or not?

[Voice off-camera]: But then he is…

Lingam: But he is playing his game lah. He got the job, that’s it. Now, September he is finished that’s all. Make sure he is not extended.

[Voice off-camera]: But, he may ask for extension.Lingam: He is hoping… he told somebody that he likes the job very much. Then he likes…Let him dream lah.

[Voice off-camera]: Above him is the Lord President?

Lingam: He is the number one man, Dzaiddin.[Voice off-camera]: Whose the Lord President?

Lingam: He is called… those days called lord president, now called chief justice, federal court.

[Voice off-camera]: Oh… it is the same title.

Lingam: Number two President Court of Appeal, that Wan Adnan, my personal friend. He was sick. Nobody knows he is close to me. Right, in fact, he never knew his name is going up until I told him. Then number three, Ahmad Fairuz, Chief Judge Malaya. Ahmad Fairuz is going to be acting, now acting…number two. Right?

So, next minute, even Raja Aziz said he is going to be the next top job. He is…definitely number one lah.

So, he told me I leave it all to you and you must help me and all…I said I’ll arrange for you to meet Tengku Adnan, Vincent and meet with PM lah…

But this bugger is sometimes a bit scared. Ah…I must play shadow from the behind. Nobody should know I know you. Then you can help more. But people, see you know more, like Eusoff Chin, because I met him in New Zealand, became a problem. But if I didn’t meet him in New Zealand, it’s a… no problem.

Correct or not? Unfortunate.

[Voice off-camera]: Then, in your…then they said you have taken photograph with him holidaying in…huh…huh…

Lingam: But unfortunately, I didn’t know. The worst thing I didn’t know Eusoff Chin put his hand like that! Alamak…so…I also didn’t know about it. What to do?

[Voice off-camera]: Then… then…

Lingam: Do you know, today one o’clock, Eusoff Chin having lunch in his house today. Hari Raya today. He called me and my wife to come. I told him we don’t go today, we make it another day. I don’t come but my wife and children will come. You know or not?I told my wife to call…[unclear]…[phone rings]…

Again Cruelty of Malaysian Police: Alleged to have splashed hot water on detainee

Malaysian Police brutality at Batu Caves Hindu Temple

Orang Asal Memorandum March (13/09/08)

The indigenous people of Malaysia's planned a march to the national palace to submit a memorandum to His Majesty the King was denied by Police.Indigenous peoples in Malaysia have sought recognition of their identities, their ways of life and their right to traditional lands, territories and natural resources; yet their rights have been violated. Indigenous peoples are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people in Malaysia.

Video - youtube

Translate this page

Subscribe To

About Me

Mahatma Gandhi"s Quotations

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.Mahatma Gandhi

As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.Mahatma Gandhi

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.Mahatma Gandhi

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.Mahatma Gandhi

Hate the sin, love the sinner.Mahatma Gandhi

Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.Mahatma Gandhi

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.Mahatma Gandhi

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters andphotographers.Mahatma Gandhi

I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.Mahatma Gandhi

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.Mahatma Gandhi

I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.Mahatma Gandhi

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.Mahatma Gandhi

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.Mahatma Gandhi

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.Mahatma Gandhi

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.Mahatma Gandhi

One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.Mahatma Gandhi

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.Mahatma Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.Mahatma Gandhi

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.Mahatma Gandhi

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.Mahatma Gandhi

You must be the change you want to see in the world.Mahatma Gandhi

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.Mahatma Gandhi

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?Mahatma Gandhi, "Non-Violence in Peace and War"

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.Mahatma Gandhi, 'Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13,' May 3, 1919

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.Mahatma Gandhi, (attributed)

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.Mahatma Gandhi, 1931

I think it would be a good idea.Mahatma Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western civilization

We must become the change we want to see.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

The outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion to the inward freedom to which we may have grown at a given moment. And if this is a correct view of freedom, our chief energy must be concentrated on achieving reform from within.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

Famous Proverbs

If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry.African Proverb

When you have given nothing, ask for nothing.Albanian Proverb

Good habits result from resisting temptation.Ancient Proverb

Dwell not upon thy weariness, thy strength shall be according to the measure of thy desire.Arab Proverb

Examine what is said, not him who speaks.Arab Proverb

Make your bargain before beginning to plow.Arab Proverb

Don't make use of another's mouth unless it has been lent to you.Belgian Proverb

Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind.Bulgarian Proverb

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.Chinese Proverb

Do not employ handsome servants.Chinese Proverb

Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.Chinese Proverb

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.Chinese Proverb

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.Chinese Proverb

If you bow at all, bow low.Chinese Proverb

Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve.Chinese Proverb

Raise your sail one foot and you get ten feet of wind.Chinese Proverb

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.Chinese Proverb

The palest ink is better than the best memory.Chinese Proverb

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.Chinese Proverb

When you drink the water, remember the spring.Chinese Proverb

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.Chinese Proverb

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.Czech Proverb

The big thieves hang the little ones.Czech Proverb

When you go to buy, use your eyes, not your ears.Czech Proverb

Ask advice only of your equals.Danish Proverb

He who would leap high must take a long run.Danish Proverb

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.Dutch Proverb

A full cup must be carried steadily.English Proverb

Don't fall before you're pushed.English Proverb

Use soft words and hard arguments.English Proverb

Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present.English Proverb

Wait until it is night before saying that it has been a fine day.French Proverb

A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.German Proverb

Charity sees the need not the cause.German Proverb

Never give advice unless asked.German Proverb

Who begins too much accomplishes little.German Proverb

First secure an independent income, then practice virtue.Greek Proverb

Call on God, but row away from the rocks.Indian Proverb

Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.Indian Proverb

Praise youth and it will prosper.Irish Proverb

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.Irish Proverb

If you scatter thorns, don't go barefoot.Italian Proverb

It is not enough to aim; you must hit.Italian Proverb

The best armor is to keep out of range.Italian Proverb

Don't stay long when the husband is not at home.Japanese Proverb

Fall seven times, stand up eight.Japanese Proverb

If you believe everything you read, better not read.Japanese Proverb

Never rely on the glory of the morning nor the smiles of your mother-in-law.Japanese Proverb

One kind word can warm three winter months.Japanese proverb

The reverse side also has a reverse side.Japanese Proverb

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.Japanese Proverb

Ask about your neighbors, then buy the house.Jewish Proverb

Don't be sweet, lest you be eaten up; don't be bitter, lest you be spewed out.Jewish Proverb

Don't live in a town where there are no doctors.Jewish Proverb

Don't look for more honor than your learning merits.Jewish Proverb

He that can't endure the bad, will not live to see the good.Jewish Proverb

If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.Jewish Proverb

Make sure to be in with your equals if you're going to fall out with your superiors.Jewish Proverb

Rejoice not at thine enemy's fall - but don't rush to pick him up either.Jewish Proverb

What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your mouth.Jewish Proverb

Worries go down better with soup than without.Jewish Proverb

Do not throw the arrow which will return against you.Kurdish Proverb

If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.Latin Proverb

It is the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to skin it.Latin Proverb

Never give a child a sword.Latin Proverb

A smiling face is half the meal.Latvian Proverb

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.Malayan Proverb

Trumpet in a herd of elephants; crow in the company of cocks; bleat in a flock of goats.Malayan Proverb

Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins.Native American Proverb

Hold a true friend with both hands.Nigerian Proverb

If you wish your merit to be known, acknowledge that of other people.Oriental Proverb

Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.Persian Proverb

Go often to the house of thy friend; for weeds soon choke up the unused path.Scandinavian Proverb

Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one.Scottish Proverb

The shifts of Fortune test the reliability of friends.Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), De Amicitia

It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanisms of friendship.Colette (1873 - 1954), The Pure and the Impure, 1932

Being friendless taught me how to be a friend. Funny how that works.Colleen Wainwright, Communicatrix, 11-09-07

Have no friends not equal to yourself.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), The Confucian Analects

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.Czech Proverb

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.Dale Carnegie

My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia.Dame Edna Everage (1934 - )

Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

Nothing changes your opinion of a friend so surely as success - yours or his.Franklin P. Jones, Saturday Evening Post, November 29, 1953Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.George Washington (1732 - 1799)

Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 - 1986)

All people want is someone to listen.Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, May 8, 2003

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.Japanese Proverb

Go through your phone book, call people and ask them to drive you to the airport. The ones who will drive you are your true friends. The rest aren't bad people; they're just acquaintances.Jay Leno (1950 - )

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719), The Spectator, March 17, 1911

It isn't kind to cultivate a friendship just so one will have an audience.Lawana Blackwell, The Courtship of the Vicar's Daughter, 1998A good friend of my son's is a son to me.Lois McMaster Bujold, Ethan of Athos, 1986

If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back.Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity, 2002

Never refuse any advance of friendship, for if nine out of ten bring you nothing, one alone may repay you.Madame de Tencin

It’s the friends you can call up at four a.m. that matter.Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992)

Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies; they are ready enough to tell them.Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894), The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 1858

I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

The advice of friends must be received with a judicious reserve; we must not give ourselves up to it and follow it blindly, whether right or wrong.Pierre Charron

Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of.Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 08-16-05

Sometimes the measure of friendship isn't your ability to not harm but your capacity to forgive the things done to you and ask forgiveness for your own mistakes.Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 11-07-05

The only thing that lasts longer than a friend's love is the stupidity that keeps us from knowing any better.Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 09-07-06

There isn’t much better in this life than finding a way to spend a few hours in conversation with people you respect and love. You have to carve this time out of your life because you aren’t really living without it.Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, August 27, 2003

When someone allows you to bear his burdens, you have found deep friendship.Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, January 4, 2003

You can forget a lot of things, but you cannot forget a woman’s name and claim to love her.Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, October 20, 2003

There was a definite process by which one made people into friends, and it involved talking to them and listening to them for hours at a time.Rebecca West (1892 - 1983)

Reveal not every secret you have to a friend, for how can you tell but that friend may hereafter become an enemy. And bring not all mischief you are able to upon an enemy, for he may one day become your friend.Saadi (1184 - 1291)

The friendship that can cease has never been real.Saint Jerome (374 AD - 419 AD), Letter

To like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship.Sallust (86 BC - 34 BC), The War with Catiline

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair.Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)

Purchase not friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give, such will cease to love.Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)

We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them.Thucydides (471 BC - 400 BC), Peloponnesian War

I've learned that all a person has in life is family and friends. If you lose those, you have nothing, so friends are to be treasured more than anything else in the world.Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Prehistoric Ice Man, 1999

Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.Unknown, (often attributed to Albert Camus)

Kahlil Gibran Quotes (1883 - 1931)

Every man loves two women;the one is the creation of his imagination and the other is not yet born.Kahlil Gibran

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.Kahlil Gibran

God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.Kahlil Gibran

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.Kahlil Gibran

If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully.Kahlil Gibran

If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.Kahlil Gibran

If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.Kahlil Gibran

In the sweetness of friendship; let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.Kahlil Gibran

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.Kahlil Gibran

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.Kahlil Gibran

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'Kahlil Gibran

The deeper sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain.Kahlil Gibran

The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reaches us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities.Kahlil Gibran

The optomist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.Kahlil Gibran

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do.Kahlil Gibran

Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.Kahlil Gibran

In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of the people's wrath.Kahlil Gibran, 'Narcotics and Dissecting Knives,' Thoughts and Meditations, 1960

It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.Kahlil Gibran, 'On Giving,' The Prophet, 1923

Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.Kahlil Gibran, Essay on Robert Frost, quoted in N. Y.. Times: Obit-Editorial, April 1982

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolutions.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

He who does not seek advice is a fool. His folly blinds him to Truth and makes him evil, stubborn, and a danger to his fellow men.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

It is slavery to live in the mind unless it has become part of the body.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

They deem me mad for I will not sell my days for gold; I deem them mad for they think my days have a price.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

I am one of those who believe that spiritual progress is a rule of human life, but the approach to perfection is slow and painful. If a woman elevates herself in one respect and is retarded in another, it is because the rough trail that leads to the mountain peak is not free of ambushes of thieves and lairs of wolves.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Broken Wings

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Marriage is the golden ring in a chain, whose beginning is a glance and whose ending is eternity.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping, For only the hand of God can contain your hearts.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

You give but little when you give of your posessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prohpet, 1923

Love is know the pain of too much tenderness.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

You give little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your appetite.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;For love is sufficient unto love.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?Verily, when good is hungry is seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.But you are life and you are the veil.Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.But you are eternity and you are the mirror.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the final hour of separation.Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet

Quotations by Albert Einstein

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.Albert Einstein

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.Albert Einstein

Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.Albert Einstein

Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.Albert Einstein

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.Albert Einstein

Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.Albert Einstein

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.Albert Einstein

I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.Albert Einstein

If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.Albert Einstein

If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge...Albert Einstein

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.Albert Einstein

Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.Albert Einstein

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.Albert Einstein

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.Albert Einstein

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.Albert Einstein

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.Albert Einstein

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible.Albert Einstein

The important thing is not to stop questioning.Albert Einstein

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.Albert Einstein

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.Albert Einstein

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.Albert Einstein

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.Albert Einstein

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.Albert Einstein

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.Albert Einstein

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.Albert Einstein

Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.Albert Einstein

Truth is what stands the test of experience.Albert Einstein

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.Albert Einstein

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.Albert Einstein

Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.Albert Einstein

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.Albert Einstein, "Geometry and Experience", January 27, 1921Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.Albert Einstein, "Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium", 1941

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.Albert Einstein, 'Out of My Later Years,' 1950

It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.Albert Einstein, 'Treasury for the Free World,' 1946

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.Albert Einstein, (attributed)

At any rate, I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice.Albert Einstein, (attriibuted)

If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.Albert Einstein, Observer, Jan. 15, 1950

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thought in clear form.Albert Einstein, quoted in New York Times, March 19, 1940

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.Albert Einstein, Telegram, 24 May 1946

When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about.Albert Einstein, The World as I See It.

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio

Imagination is more important than knowledge.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

We believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), on atomic energy, Jan. 22, 1947

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), "Autobiographical Notes"

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.It is the source of all art and science.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Physics and Reality [1936]

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It is only to the individual that a soul is given.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The point is to develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition and to guide the child over to important fields for society. Such a school demands from the teacher that he be a kind of artist in his province.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Out of My Later Years

One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), On Education

The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day's work like a happy child at play.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), (referring to America)

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), when asked to describe radio

Theories should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

To my mind to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavor. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes. What can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by words and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by racial bias.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of GodAlbert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curious of inquiry. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artistAlbert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Results from Internet Collections: alt.quotations Archives:Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), 1929

"I want to know Gods thoughts.... all the rest are just detailsAlbert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Each of us visits this Earth involuntarily, and without an invitation. For me, it is enough to wonder at the secrets.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

"Imagination is more important than knowledge.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

"My life is a simple thing that would interest no one. It is a known fact that I was born and that is all that is necessary.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, Of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?Albert Einstein.

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Only a life lived for others is a life worth while.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Imagination is more important than knowledge.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Nothing in the world makes people so afraid as the influence of independent-minded people.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), 1879-1955

Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... it takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

When all think alike, no one thinks very much.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most People are even incapable of forming such opinions.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The tragedy of life is what dies in the hearts and souls of people while they live.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

My sense of God is my sense of wonder about the Universe.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I have deep faith that the principle of the universe will be beautiful and simple.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

We still do not know one-thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

He who cherishes the values of culture cannot fail to be a pacifist.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The aim (of education) must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, can see in the service to the community their highest life achievement.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The conscientious objector is a revoultionary. On deciding to disobey the law he sacrifices his personal interests to the most important cause of working for the betterment of society.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It is characteristic of the military mentality that nonhuman factors (atom bombs, strategic bases, weapons of all sorts, the possession of raw materials, etc) are held essential, while the human being, his desires, and thoughts - in short, the psychological factors - are considered as unimportant and secondary...The individual is degraded...to "human materiel".Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

There are two ways of resisting war: the legal way and the revolutionary way. The legal way involves the offer of alternatinve service not as a privilege for a few but as a right for all. The revolutionary view involves an uncompromising resistance, with a view to breaking the power of militarism in time of peace or the resources of the state in time of war.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest sceintists are always artists as well.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this counrty is closely related with this.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence - these are the features of Jewish tradition that make me thank my stars that I belong to it.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), The World As I See It (autobio, 1934)

If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Gary Young M.D.'s lecture on chaos theory and Buddhism in Oregon State University on 04/17/03 (SGI-USA)

Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books - a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It's the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science. Whoever does not know it can no longer wander, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

If my theory of relativity proves to be correct, Germany will claim me a German, and France will claim me a citizen of the world. However, if it proves wrong, France will say I’m a German, and Germany will say that I’m a jew.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

God reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

So long as there are men there will be wars.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It is mathematics that offers the exact natural sciences a certain measure of security which, without mathematics, they could not attain.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Let us not forget that knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. ... I claim credit for nothing. Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insects as well as for the stars, Human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Dilip Kumar Roy, (famous Indian classical singer), had cited the above quotation of Einstein in one of his letters to his disciple M.S.Subbalakshmi, another famous Indian singer and Magsayee Award

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Wisdom is not a product of schooling, but of the life- long attempt to acquire it.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Sc

No one but a theorist believes his theory; everyone puts faith in a laboratory result but the experimenter himself.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), quoted in Scientific American, September 2004, page 69

So long as there are men there will be wars.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Do you remember how electrical currents and 'unseen waves' were laughed at? The knowledge about man is still in its infancy.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Letter, 24 March 1954. Quoted in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side," edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman

Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Associated Press, April 15, 2005, "100 Years Ago, Einstein Changed Everything,"

Buddha"s Quotations (563 BC - 483 BC)

If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.Buddha

Hatred does not cease in this world by hating, but by not hating; this is an eternal truth.Buddha, The Dhammapada

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.The Buddha

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC), The Dharmapada

Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC), The Dharmapada

The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings.The Buddha

As the flectcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)He is able who thinks he is able.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

To keep the body in good health is a duty otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

All created things are impermanent. Strive on with diligence.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC), Last words before his death

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

However many holy words you read, However many you speak, What good will they do you, If you do not act upon them?Buddha (563 - 483 B.C.)

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)

Abraham Lincoln Quotes (1809 - 1865)

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.Abraham Lincoln

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.Abraham Lincoln

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.Abraham Lincoln

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.Abraham Lincoln

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.Abraham Lincoln

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts.Abraham Lincoln

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.Abraham Lincoln

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?Abraham Lincoln

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.Abraham Lincoln

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.Abraham Lincoln

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.Abraham Lincoln

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.Abraham Lincoln

Let me not be understood as saying that there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed.Abraham Lincoln

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.Abraham Lincoln

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.Abraham Lincoln

No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.Abraham Lincoln

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.Abraham Lincoln

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.Abraham Lincoln

That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.Abraham Lincoln

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.Abraham Lincoln

Whatever you are, be a good one.Abraham Lincoln

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one.Abraham Lincoln

When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.Abraham Lincoln

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.Abraham Lincoln

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.Abraham Lincoln

You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.Abraham Lincoln

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)

People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.Abraham Lincoln, in a book review

Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention.Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to J. M. Cutts, October 26, 1863

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.Abraham Lincoln, letter to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, July 18, 1864

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's Own Stories

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.Abraham Lincoln, speech in Washington D.C., 1865

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I don't know who my grandfather was; I'm much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds. . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Whatever you are, be a good one.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

What is conservativism? Is it not the aherence to the old and tried against the new and untried?Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), on meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe

Those who would deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do themselves.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

How many legs does a dog have if you count his tail as a leg? Four. You can call a tail a leg if you want to, but that doesn't make it a leg.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he makes so many of them.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

...and that this country shall have a new birth of freedom, and that this government, of the people, for the people, by the people, shall not perish from the Earth.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), Gettysburg Address

I do not believe the Union will disolve, I believe it will become all one thing, or all the other.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), A House Divided

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that is my religion.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I'm not concerned that you have fallen,I'm concerned that you arise.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

No matter how much cats fight there always seem to be plenty of Kittens.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), On Marriage

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all... Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better... And yet this is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory shall swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of nature.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other.... The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I am not concerned that you have fallen; I am concerned that you arise.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

No man resolved to make the most of himself has time to waste on personal contention.Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

John F. Kennedy Quotes (1917 - 1963)

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.John F. Kennedy

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.John F. Kennedy

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.John F. Kennedy

Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.John F. Kennedy

Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.John F. Kennedy

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.John F. Kennedy

So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.John F. Kennedy

The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.John F. Kennedy

The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.John F. Kennedy

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.John F. Kennedy

The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'John F. Kennedy

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.John F. Kennedy

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.John F. Kennedy

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.John F. Kennedy

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.John F. Kennedy

We set sail on this new sea because there is knowledge to be gained.John F. Kennedy

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.John F. Kennedy

When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things were as bad as we'd been saying they were.John F. Kennedy

The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.John F. Kennedy, Amherst College, Oct 26, 1963 - Source JFK Library, Boston, Mass.

...probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.John F. Kennedy, Describing a dinner for Nobel Prize winners, 1962

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

And so, my fellow americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.John F. Kennedy, inaugural address, January 20, 1961

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.John F. Kennedy, October 26, 1963

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.John F. Kennedy, Speech at The American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.John F. Kennedy, speech at The American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.John F. Kennedy, speech at Vanderbilt University, May 18, 1963

All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea -- whether it is to sail or to watch it -- we are going back from whence we came.John F. Kennedy, Speech given at Newport at the dinner before the America's Cup Races, September 1962

We need men who can dream of things that never were.John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity.John F. Kennedy, Speech in Indianapolis, April 12, 1959

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.John F. Kennedy, speech prepared for delivery in Dallas the day of his assassination, November 22, 1963

Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.John F. Kennedy, Speech to UN General Assembly, Sept. 25, 1961

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home and around the world!John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Inaugural Address, 1961

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

When I became President, what surprised me most was that things were just as bad as I'd been saying they were.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Nixon and the White House.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), as given in A. Schlesinger Jr's, "A Thousand Days"

The quality of American life must keep pace with the quantity of American goods. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Amherst College, Honoring Robert Frost

But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), inaugural address, 1961

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

I believe this nation should commit itself, to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), in a speech on May 25, 1961

Too often we...enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

It's easy, they sank my boat.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), When asked how he became a war hero

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy - but because they are hard! Because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win!John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Rice University speech on September 12, 1962

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

There will always be dissident voices heard in the land expresing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side, and seeking influence without responsibility.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Speech for the Dallas Trade Mart which was never delivered.

We don’t see the end of the tunnel but I must say I don’t think it is darker than it was a year ago, and in some ways lighter.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), speech in 1962

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Conformity is the jailer of freedom, and the enemy of growth.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

The Courage that we all prize and seek is not the courage to die decently, but to live manfully.Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881), Proflies in Courage by: John F. Kennedy

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Change is the law of life; and those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it till now. -- (Comment made 10 April 1962 in reaction to news that U.S. Steel was raising prices by $6 per ton, right after the unions negotiated a modest new contract under pressure from JFK to keep inflation down.)John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. [1965]

They are a bunch of bastards - and I'm saying this on my own now, not just because my father told it to me. -- [Comment about businessmen in general, made a few days after the newspaperas printed his statement of 10 April 1962 that his father always told him that businessmen were "sons of bitches."]President John F. Kennedy, "A Thousand Days," by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. [1965]

Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

If I do the right kind of a job, I don't know whether I am going to be here four years from now.John F. Kennedy (to Richard M. Nixon, right after the Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961).John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr [1965]

If I am to die, this is the week for it.John F. Kennedy (to aide John McClone in response to a CIA report about rumours of an assassination plot), June 1962.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr [1965]

Who can tell who will be the President a year from now?John F. Kennedy, speaking to the president of Harvard about why he did not want to delay signing documents relating to a future JFK Presidential Library, 2 October 1963.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. [1965]

Victory has a thousand fathers; defeat is an orphan.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr [1965]., p289. Comment made by JFK in the aftermath of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961.

This is the night to go to the theatre, like Abraham Lincoln.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), 28 October 1962, after receiving word from Khrushchev that he agreed on a plan to end the Cuban Missile Crisis

I think there is a law of equity in these disputes. When one party is clearly wrong, it will eventually give way... They had no business putting those missiles in and lying to me about it. They were in the wrong and knew it. So, when we stood firm, they had to back down. But this doesn't mean at all that they would back down when they felt they were in the right and had vital interests involved.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), 29 October 1962, reflecting on the Cuban Missile Crisis to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

The trouble with conservatives today is that most of their thinking is so naive. As for the liberals, their thinking is more sophisticated; but their function ought to be to provide new ideas, and they don't come up with any.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr [1965]

Now I understand why Henry VIII started his own church.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Comment after the Vatican scolded him for supporting separation between church and state during his campaign, 1960.

What a joy, that literacy is no longer prima facie evidence of treason.John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968), Reply upon learning that he and 49 other eminent artists had been invited to John F. Kennedy's inaugural, 1961

We believe that an artist, in order to be true to himself and his work, must be a free man.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Introducing Pablo Casals at aWhite House dinner, November 1961, at which he performed publicly for the first time since the Spanish Civil War

Overwhelming nuclear strength cannot stop a guerrilla war.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), From the speech President Kennedy was to deliver at the Dallas Trade Mart, 22 Nov 1963; he was assassinated on his way to the Trade Mart

I think there is a law of equity in these disputes. When one party is clearly wrong, it will eventually give way... They had no business putting those missiles in and lying to me about it. They were in the wrong and knew it. So, when we stood firm, they had to back down. But this doesn't mean at all that they would back down when they felt they were in the right and had vital interests involved.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), 29 October 1962, reflecting on the Cuban Missile Crisis to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

The trouble with conservatives today is that most of their thinking is so naive. As for the liberals, their thinking is more sophisticated; but their function ought to be to provide new ideas, and they don't come up with any.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), "A Thousand Days," by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr [1965]

Now I understand why Henry VIII started his own church.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Comment after the Vatican scolded him for supporting separation between church and state during his campaign, 1960.

What a joy, that literacy is no longer prima facie evidence of treason.John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968), Reply upon learning that he and 49 other eminent artists had been invited to John F. Kennedy's inaugural, 1961

We believe that an artist, in order to be true to himself and his work, must be a free man.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Introducing Pablo Casals at a White House dinner, November 1961, at which he performed publicly for the first time since the Spanish Civil War

Overwhelming nuclear strength cannot stop a guerrilla war.John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), From the speech President Kennedy was to deliver at the Dallas Trade Mart, 22 Nov 1963; he was assassinated on his way to the Trade Mart

Confucius Quotations (551 BC - 479 BC)

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.Confucius

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.Confucius

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.Confucius

Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.Confucius

He who will not economize will have to agonize.Confucius

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.Confucius

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.Confucius

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.Confucius

Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart.Confucius

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.Confucius

Respect yourself and others will respect you.Confucius

Study the past if you would define the future.Confucius

The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.Confucius

To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.Confucius

To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.Confucius

To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle.Confucius

What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.Confucius

When anger rises, think of the consequences.Confucius

When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.Confucius

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.Confucius

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.Confucius

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.Confucius, The Confucian AnalectsHave no friends not equal to yourself.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are successful may be called intelligent indeed.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

If a man withdraws his mind from the love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of the virtuous; if, in serving his parents, he can exert his utmost strength; if, in serving his prince, he can devote his life; if in his intercourse with his friends, his words are sincere - although men say that he has not learned, I will certainly say that he has.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The cautious seldom err.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends - such a man may be reckoned a complete man.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The superior man...does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth...lust. When he is strong...quarrelsomeness. When he is old...covetousness.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Things that are done, it is needless to speak about...things that are past, it is needless to blame.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue...[They are] gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

What the superior man seeks is in himself. What the mean man seeks is in others.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow - I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

The superior man] acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.Confucius, The Confucian Analects

While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve spirits [of the dead]?...While you do not know life, how can you know about death?Confucius, The Confucian Analects, bk. 11:11

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Analects

A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

It is only the wisest and the stupidest that cannot change.Confucius Analects

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

I hear and I forget.I see and I believe.I do and I understand.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage.Confucius Analects

If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at handConfucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do you know that his future will not be equal to our present?Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Analects

Tsze-Kung asked, saying, 'Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?" The Master said, "Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

He who merely knows right principles is not equal to him who loves them.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

It is not possible for one to teach others who cannot teach his own family.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

While the gentleman cherishes benign rule, the small man cherishes his native land. While the gentleman cherishes a respect for the law, the small man cherishes generous treatment.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), nalects, IV.11

If a man remembers what is right at the sign of profit, is ready to lay down his life in the face of danger, and does not forget sentiments he has repeated all his life when he has been in straitened circumstances for a long time, he may be said to be a complete man.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Analects, XIV.12

It is only the benevolent man who is capable of liking or disliking other men.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Analects, IV.3

In his errors a man is true to type. Observe the errors and you will know the man.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Analects, IV.7

Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Analects, XV.24

To govern is to correct. If you set an example by being correct, who would dare remain incorrect?Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

When you see a good man, try to emulate his example, and when you see a bad man, search yourself for his faults.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

The superior man is modest in his speech, but excels in his actions.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Humankind differs from the animals only by a little, and most people throw that away.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), Roots of Wisdom 4th edition

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

Quotations by Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)

Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of happiness.Lao-tzu

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

He who knows does not speak.He who speaks does not know.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

He who knows others is wise;He who know himself is enlightened.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

I have three treasures. Guard and keep them:The first is deep love,The second is frugality,And the third is not to dare to be ahead of the world.Because of deep love, one is courageous.Because of frugality, one is generous.Because of not daring to be ahead of the world, one becomes the leader of the world.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

Manifest plainness,Embrace simplicity,Reduce selfishness,Have few desires.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

The best [man] is like water.Water is good; it benefits all things and does not compete with them.It dwells in [lowly] places that all disdain.This is why it is so near to Tao.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

The more laws and order are made prominent,The more thieves and robbers there will be.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

The Way of Heaven is to benefit others and not to injure.The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.There is no greater guilt than discontentment.And there is no greater disaster than greed.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

To be worn out is to be renewed.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

To have little is to possess.To have plenty is to be perplexed.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

To know that you do not know is the best.To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

To produce things and to rear them,To produce, but not to take possession of them,To act, but not to rely on one's own ability,To lead them, but not to master them -This is called profound and secret virtue.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

When armies are mobilized and issues are joined,The man who is sorry over the fact will win.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

When the highest type of men hear Tao,They diligently practice it.When the average type of men hear Tao,They half believe in it.When the lowest type of men hear Tao,They laugh heartily at it.Without the laugh, there is no Tao.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty,There arises the recognition of ugliness.When they all know the good as good,There arises the recognition of evil.Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC), Tao Te Ching

The good man is the teacher of the bad,And the bad is the material from which the good may learn.He who does not value the teacher,Or greatly care for the material,Is greatly deluded although he may be learned.Such is the essential mystery.Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)

A good manager is best when people barely know that he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him.Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)

Arms are instruments of ill omen. . . . When one is compelled to use them, it is best to do so without relish. There is no glory in victory, and to glorify it despite this is to exult in the killing of men. . . . When great numbers of people are killed, one should weep over them with sorrow. When victorious in war, one should observe mourning rites.Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)

Learning builds daily accumulation, but the practice of Tao builds daily simplification. Simplify and simplify, until all contamination from relative, contridictory thinking is eliminated. Then one does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. One who wins the world does so by not meddling with it. One who meddles with the world loses it.Tao te Ching, 48. Lao-Tzu

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)

Water is fluid, soft and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.Lao-Tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)

Osho Quotes

Life as such has to be taken as a cosmic joke - and then suddenly yourelax because there is nothing to be tense about.And in that very relaxation something starts changing in you- a radical change, a transformation - and the small things of lifestarts having new meaning, new significance.One learns only one thing, how to rejoice in life.Osho

The whole existence is a temple…the trees are continously in worship, the clouds are in prayer and the mountains are in meditation.Osho

The real seeker of truth never seeks truth. On the contrary, he tries to clean himself of all that is untrue, inauthentic, insincere - and when his heart is ready, purified, the guest comes. You cannot find the guest, you cannot go after him. He comes to you; you just have to be prepared. You have to be in a right attitude.Osho

In the space of no-mind, truth descends like lightOsho

Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will war disappear.Osho

To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.Osho

Meditation means awareness. Whatsoever you do with awareness is meditation. Action is not the question, but the quality that you bring to your action. Walking can be a meditation if you walk alertly. Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alertly. Listening to the birds can be a meditation if you listen with awareness. Just listening to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation if you remain alert and watchful. The whole point is: one should not move in sleep. Then whatsoever you do is meditation. Osho

When you feel expansion of your consciousness, that is the most ecstatic experience possible, because suddenly you are the whole universe. Stars are within you. The sun rises within you and sets within you. The earth moves within you. The flowers blossom within you.Osho

Existence has no personality.No question of personalities, it simply is whatsoever it is.To experience existence as it is, is to know the truth.Osho

Suffering is not holding you. You are holding suffering. When you become good at the art of letting sufferings go, then you'll come to realize how unnecessary it was for you to drag those burdens around with you. You'll see that no one else other than you was responsible. The truth is that existence wants your life to become a festival.Osho

All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be -- don't try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.Osho

Life in itself is an empty canvas, it becomes whatsoever you paint on it. You can paint misery, you can paint bliss. The freedom is your glory.Osho

There are a few things that can be done only by experiencing them. Love is one of them. There is no way to learn it; you have to do it. And by trial and error one learns.Osho

Die – you will have to die. But die gracefully. I am not saying die like a stoic, I am not saying die like a very controlled man. No, I'm saying die gracefully, beautifully, as if a friend is coming, knocks at your door, and you are happy. And you embrace the friend and invite him in, and you have been waiting for him so long....Osho

There is no need to postpone celebration. Immediately, right this moment you can celebrate. Nothing else is needed. To celebrate, life is needed and life you have. To celebrate, being is needed and being you have. To celebrate, trees and birds and stars are needed, and they are there. What else do you need?Osho

It is very human because we have been made in such a way by the society that jealousy is the outcome of it. The whole life's conditioning is to be jealous. The school, the college, the university, the parents, the society – everybody wants you to be jealous, because only out of jealousy can ambition be created, only out of jealousy can possessiveness be created, and only out of jealousy can you be made to become powerful, rich. If jealousy disappears this whole edifice of the society will fall. It is founded on jealousy; jealousy is the cornerstone of this society. It pervades everything, permeates everything.Osho

Enemies Quotes

The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC), The Eagle and the Arrow

He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.Ali ibn-Abi-Talib (602 AD - 661 AD), A Hundred Sayings

Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment.Andre Maurois (1885 - 1967)

We can learn even from our enemies.Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD), Metamorphoses

Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.Persian Proverb

Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

Reveal not every secret you have to a friend, for how can you tell but that friend may hereafter become an enemy. And bring not all mischief you are able to upon an enemy, for he may one day become your friend.Saadi (1184 - 1291)

It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head.Sally Kempton

Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.Spike Milligan

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.William Blake (1757 - 1827)

The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924)

Quotes

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.

~Abba Eban

About the quote: Israeli diplomat (1915-2002)

Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.

~Abraham Flexner

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.

~Abraham Lincoln

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.

~Abraham Lincoln

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

~Abraham Lincoln

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.

~Abraham Lincoln

Military glory--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy...

~Abraham Lincoln

We must recognize the chief characteristic of the modern era--a permanent state of what I call violent peace.

~Admiral James D. Watkins

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.

~Adolph Hitler

In war, truth is the first casualty.

~Aeschylus

Any excuse will serve a tyrant.

~Aesop

One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.

~Agatha Christie

No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.

~A. J. P. Taylor

The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.

~A. J. P. Taylor

No war is inevitable until it breaks out.

~A. J. P. Taylor

Wars based on principle are far more destructive...the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.

~Alan Watts

About the quote: from the book "The Way of Zen"

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives...inside ourselves.

~Albert Camus

It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.

~Albert Camus

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.

~Albert Camus

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.

~Albert Camus

When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid, it can't last long." But though a war may be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting.

~Albert Camus

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

~Albert Einstein

Force always attracts men of low morality.

~Albert Einstein

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

~Albert Einstein

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

~Albert Einstein

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

~Albert Einstein

Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.

~Albert Einstein

How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked to pieces than take part in such an abominable business.

~Albert Einstein

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

~Albert Einstein

It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own.

~Albert J. Nock

What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.

~Aldous Huxley

The next war ... may well bury Western civilization forever.

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The demands of internal growth are incomparably more important to us...than the need for any external expansion of our power.

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle.

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

About the quote: This quote is often mis-attributed to Mikhail Gorbachev, who merely quoted the remark from Solzhenitsyn's Nobel prize Harvard address.

Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction.

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.

~Edward R. Murrow

All the gods are dead except the god of war.

~Eldridge Cleaver

All wars eventually act as boomerangs and the victor suffers as much as the vanquished.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

About the quote: from "My Day," February 7, 1939

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

About the quote: Roosevelt (1884-1962) was the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and an outspoken political activist in her own right. (From 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' Quirk Books, Ed. by Eric Groves Sr.)

Rulers who want to unleash war know very well that they must procure or invent a first victim.

The worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being.

~Ellen Key

Most quarrels are inevitable at the time; incredible afterwards.

~E. M. Forster

History is littered with wars which everybody knew would never happen.

~Enoch Powell

The first casualty of war is not truth, but perspective. Once that's gone, truth, like compassion, reason, and all the other virtues, wanders around like a wounded orphan.

~Ente Grillenhaft

About the quote: from "Treatise on Reason and Hysteria"

War is the blackest villainy of which human nature is capable.

~Erasmus

Dulce bellum inexpertis (War is delightful to the inexperienced).

~Erasmus, the 16th-century scholar

History is replete with examples of empires mounting impressive military campaigns on the cusp of their impending economic collapse.

~Eric Alterman

About the quote: Alterman is an American journalist, born in 1960. (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)

A hospital alone shows what war is.

~Erich Maria Remarque

You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.

~Ernest Hemingway

They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.

~Ernest Hemingway

About the quote: from "Notes on the Next War," published in Esquire Magazine, 1935.

No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one.

~Ernest Hemingway

The 1st panacea of a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the 2nd is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; a permanent ruin.

~Ernest Hemingway

For me war has become a flat, black depression without highlights, a revulsion of the mind and an exhaustion of the spirit.

~Ernie Pyle

No war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.

~Eugene Debs

About the quote: (1855-1926)

God hates violence. He has ordained that all men fairly possess their property, not seize it.

~Euripides

Wars should be over in three days or less...and the American people must be all for it from the outset.

~Evan Thomas

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, ‘Mother, what was war?'

~Eve Merriam

'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

~FA Hayek

We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us.

~Francis John McConnell

We must get away from the idea that America is to be the leader of the world in everything.

~Francis John McConnell

The pertinent question: if Americans did not want these wars should they have been compelled to fight them?

~Frank Chodorov

The State acquires power... and because of its insatiable lust for power it is incapable of giving up any of it. The State never abdicates.

~Frank Chodorov

All wars come to an end, at least temporarily. But the authority acquired by the state hangs on; political power never abdicates.

~Frank Chodorov

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities.

~Frank Herbert

It is not that power corrupts but that power is a magnet to the corruptible.

~Frank Herbert

The evils of government are directly proportional to the tolerance of the people.

~Frank Kent

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.

~Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

~Frederick Douglass

If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one of them would remain in the army.

~Frederick the Great

Wars are the hobbies of half-informed children who have somehow come into possession of the levers of power.

~Fred Reed

About the quote: You can read Fred Reed's articles on LewRockwell.com: http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed-arch.html

When goods don't cross borders, soldiers will.

~Fredric Bastiat

Governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deducted from it.

~Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and dramatist

Under conditions of peace the warlike man attacks himself.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

If, finally, violence meets with violence, we have confirmation of the age old adage that war though it kills many men, makes many more men evil.

~Fritz Medicus

The winds that blow our billions away return burdened with themes of scorn and dispraise.

~Garet Garrett

With no notice to the American people...this country entered the war...Stranger than the fact was the passive acceptance of it.

~Garet Garrett

Is it security you want? There is no security at the top of the world.

~Garet Garrett

Only the winners decide what were war crimes.

~Gary Wills

I want to scare the hell out of the rest of the world.

~General Colin Powell

In war, as it is waged now, with the enormous losses on both sides, both sides will lose. It is a form of mutual suicide.

~General Douglas MacArthur

About the quote: MacArthur was an American army general who lived 1880-1964. (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency.

~General Douglas MacArthur

I believe that the entire effort of modern society should be concentrated on the endeavor to outlaw war as a method of the solution of problems between nations.

~General Douglas MacArthur

About the quote: MacArthur was an American army general who lived 1880-1964. (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)

It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.

~General Douglas MacArthur

Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear.

~General Douglas MacArthur

Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it.

~General Douglas MacArthur

As far as I am concerned, war itself is immoral.

~General Omar Bradley

About the quote: U.S. Five Star General.

War: A wretched debasement of all the pretenses of civilization.

~General Omar N. Bradley

We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

~General Omar N. Bradley

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.

~General Omar N. Bradley

War is just a racket...I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else.

~General Smedley Butler

War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.

~General Smedley Butler

War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

~General Smedley Butler

There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

~General Smedley Butler

My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military.

~General Smedley Butler (USMC, Ret.)

It is painful enough to discover with what unconcern they speak of war and threaten it. I have seen enough of it to make me look upon it as the sum of all evils.

~General Stonewall Jackson

About the quote: 1824-1863. Confederate General of the US Civil War.

People who are anxious to bring on war don’t know what they are bargaining for; they don’t see all the horrors that must accompany such an event.

~General Stonewall Jackson

About the quote: 1824-1863. Confederate General of the US Civil War.

Putting aside all the fancy words and academic doubletalk, the basic reason for having a military is to do two jobs --to kill people and to destroy.

~General Thomas S. Power

Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat.

~General Vo Nguyen Giap (Vietnam)

War is at best barbarism. Its glory is all moonshine...War is hell.

~General William Tecumseh Sherman

It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.

~General William Tecumseh Sherman

Vietnam was the first war ever fought without censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.

~General William Westmoreland

War is fear cloaked in courage.

~General William Westmoreland

The military doesn't start wars. The politicians start wars.

~General William Westmoreland

Cruelty must be whitewashed by a moral excuse, and pretense of reluctance.

~George Bernard Shaw

Man is the only animal of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid...There is no harm in a well-fed lion. It has no ideals, no sect, no party...

~George Bernard Shaw

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war.

~George H. W. Bush

There can be no public or private virtue unless the foundation of action is the practice of truth.

~George Jacob Holyoake

About the quote: Holyoke (1817-1906) was an English secularist.

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

~George McGovern

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

~George Orwell

War is a way of shattering to pieces...materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and...too intelligent.

~George Orwell

About the quote: This quote is spoken by the character of Emmanuel Goldstein in Orwell's novel, "1984."

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor.

~George Orwell

About the quote: This quote is spoken by the character of Emmanuel Goldstein in Orwell's novel, "1984."

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor.

~George Orwell

About the quote: This quote is spoken by the character of Emmanuel Goldstein in Orwell's novel, "1984."

All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.

~George Orwell

About the quote: This quote comes from "Homage to Catalonia," Orwell's 1936 eyewitness account of the Spanish Civil War.

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

~George Orwell

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.

~George Orwell

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.

~George Orwell

Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable

~George Orwell

About the quote: from his 'Politics and the English Language.'

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.

~Georges Clemenceau

It is far easier to make war than peace.

~Georges Clemenceau

Hate is able to provoke disorders, to ruin a social organization, to cast a country into a period of bloody revolutions; but it produces nothing.

~Georges Sorel

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

~George Washington

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.

~George Washington

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force...Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

~George Washington

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.

~George Washington

It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

~George Washington

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: deliberate, continued, and dishonest; but the myth: persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.

~John F. Kennedy

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

~John F. Kennedy

We are all familiar with the argument: Make war dreadful enough, and there will be no war. And we none of us believe it.

~John Galsworthy

Peace hath higher tests of manhood than battle ever knew.

~John Greenleaf Whittier

There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave.

~John James Ingalls

War remains the decisive human failure.

~John Kenneth Galbraith

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.

~John Lennon

All mankind...being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.

~John Locke

For what can war, but endless war, still breed?

~John Milton

The hardest thing for me in Vietnam wasn't seeing the wounded and dead. It was watching the big transport jets come in, bringing loads of fresh new boys for the war.

~Johnny Cash

About the quote: Speaking about his experience when he and June Carter went to Vietnam to entertain the troups in 1969. from 'Cash: The Autobiography,' Harper Collins, page 218

America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.

~John Quincy Adams

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.

~John Stuart Mill

Imperialism is an institution under which one nation asserts the right to seize the land or at least to control the government or resources of another people.

~John T. Flynn

Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order.

~John V. Lindsay

The opposite of war is not peace, it's creation.

~Jonathan Larson

There is but one evil, war. All the other proclaimed evils such as hate, greed, descrimination, and jealousy are only sub-categories of it.

You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.

~Noam Chomsky

The only security for the American people today, or for any people, is to be found through the control of force rather than the use of force.

~Norman Cousins

Where is the indignation about the fact that the US and USSR have thirty thousand pounds of destructive force for every human being in the world?

~Norman Cousins

To initiate a war of aggression...is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

~Nuremburg War Tribunal

Some explanations of a crime are not explanations: they're part of the crime.

~Olavo de Cavarlho

It is finer to bring one noble human being into the world and rear it well...than to kill ten thousand.

~Olive Schreiner

Have you ever thought that war is a madhouse and that everyone in the war is a patient?

~Oriana Fallaci

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

~Oscar Wilde

Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.

~Otto von Bismarck

About the quote: Bismarck (1815-1898) was the first Chancellor of the Germany Empire from 1871-1890.

If we don't stop behaving like the British Empire, we will end up like the British Empire.

~Pat Buchanan

About the quote: From Buchanan's 5/9/06 article "Why Are We Baiting Putin?"

War is a failure of human intelligence.

~Patricia Sun

About the quote: Patricia Sun is an internationally renowned philosophical psychologist.

[War] comes from an immature style of thinking where creativity and overview is scarce.

~Patricia Sun

About the quote: Patricia Sun is an internationally renowned philosphical psychologist.

War comes from our being immature, fearful, and injured, and not being able to concieve of other ways of solving problems.

~Patricia Sun

About the quote: Patricia Sun is an internationally renowned philosophical psychologist.

No one has deputized America to play Wyatt Earp to the world.

~Patrick J. Buchanan

If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.

~Pentagon Official (unnamed )

About the quote: This quote was from a Pentagon Official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War.

War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, the lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

If you love this land of the free, bring 'em home, bring 'em home, Bring 'em back from overseas.

~Pete Seeger

About the quote: Lyrics from Seeger's song 'Bring Em Home.'

I guess every generation is doomed to fight its war...suffer the loss of the same old illusions, and learn the same old lessons on its own.

~Phillip Caputo

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

~Plato

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

~Plato

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

~Plato

Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of men.

~Pope John Paul II

War is a defeat for humanity.

~Pope John Paul II

About the quote: from 1/1/2000

Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war...

~Pope John Paul II

Will . . . the threat of common extermination continue?. . . Must children receive the arms race from us as a necessary inheritance?

~Pope John Paul II

Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore...prove ultimately futile.

~Pope John Paul II

About the quote: from 1/1/2000

You lose nothing through peace. You can lose everything through war.

~Pope Pius XII

To wage war, you need first of all money; second, you need money, and third, you also need money.

~Prince Montecuccoli

One more such victory and we are undone.

~Pyrrhus of Epirus

During war, the laws are silent.

~Quintus Tullius Cicero

There are no warlike people--just warlike leaders.

~Ralph Bunche

Violence is not power, but the absence of power.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

Killing someone is the ultimate crime, while on the other hand, killing someone in uniform is fulfillment of duty.

~Ramman Kenoun

Humanity is quite a unique species, since it is the only one with the means to wipe itself out.

~Ramman Kenoun

All it takes is a single act of aggression to permanently wound a nation's reputation.

~Ramman Kenoun

The tyrant always talks as if he's preserving the best interests of his people when he actually acts to undermine them.

~Ramman Kenoun

Conflict is the criminals' paradise; it is the only time when killing is allowed, theft is tolerated, and rape is forgiven.

~Ramman Kenoun

Patriotism lies not in blind obedience to authority, but in the desire to search for the truth.

~Ramman Kenoun

The only antidote to the poison of war is the public's courage to disagree with their leader.

~Ramman Kenoun

The occupation and robbery of a nation occurs under the illusion of freeing its citizens from brutal oppression.

~Ramman Kenoun

The soldier's main enemy is not the opposing soldier, but his own commander.

~Ramman Kenoun

A tyrant has succeeded in his search for absolute power when his own people fear to question his actions.

~Ramman Kenoun

Good leaders serve the interests of their people, while unfit leaders exploit their citizens to serve their own.

~Ramman Kenoun

How is it possible for people to consider themselves supporters of the troops when they approve of an event that throws those troops into...peril?

~Ramman Kenoun

War may be only temporary, but its toll remains permanently.

~Ramman Kenoun

Power is usurped from the people, first by implementing fear, then it is maintained by slandering as 'unpatriotic' those who refuse submission.

~Ramman Kenoun

It is frightening how the actions of a single leader can have such drastic effects on the prestige of an entire nation.

~Ramman Kenoun

It's truly ironic how self-proclaimed 'patriots' have a tendency to support those who seek to undermine their country.

~Ramman Kenoun

A man who kills on his own is a murderer. A man who kills at his government's request is a national hero.

~Ramman Kenoun

In war, there are no winners.

~Ramman Kenoun

Think of war as a game of Russian roulette. It is a game of chance with your life as the grand prize.

~Ramman Kenoun

War is the Health of the State.

~Randolph Bourne

One keeps healthy in wartime...by a vigorous assertion of values in which war has no part.

~Randolph Bourne

Either war is obsolete, or men are.

~R. Buckminster Fuller

War is the ultimate tool of politics.

~R. Buckminster Fuller

I hate it when they say, ‘He gave his life for his country.’ They don’t die for the honor and glory of their country. We kill them.

~Rear Admiral Gene R. LaRocque

War has become a spectator sport for Americans.

~Rear Admiral Gene R. LaRocque

They talk about conscription as a democratic institution. Yes; so is a cemetery.

~Rep. Meyer London

Why should you ask blood be spilled for a cause that is not in the interest of the American people?

~Rep. Wally Herger

We may extend our dominion over the whole continent...but be assured it will be at the price of our free institutions.

~Rep. William Waters Boyce

Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race...Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never.

~Rev. William Sloane Coffin

Wars have ever been but another aristocratic mode of plundering and oppressing commerce.

~Richard Cobden

Washington...has become an alien city-state that rules America, and much of the rest of the world, in the way that Rome ruled the Roman Empire.

~Richard Maybury

When we fill our souls up with creativity, artistry and intelligence ...we have a better chance at avoiding the behavior that leads to destruction.

~Rick DellaRatta

About the quote: Rick DellaRatta is founder of the group Jazz for Peace.

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so...

~Robert A. Heinlein

I do not believe any policy which has behind it the threat of military force is justified as part of the basic foreign policy of the United States except to defend the liberty of our own people.

~Robert A. Taft

What a cruel thing is war...to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.

~Robert E. Lee

The war...was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.

~Robert E. Lee

What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness god has given us in this world...

~Robert E. Lee

This much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

~Robert F. Kennedy

Since the end of the nineteenth century, if not earlier, presidents have misled the public about their motives and their intentions in going to war.

~Robert Higgs

When American presidents prepare for foreign wars, they lie.

~Robert Higgs

...History shows that ... (people) can be deflected from their natural tendencies by artful propaganda, bogus crises, or other political trickery.

~Robert Higgs

About the quote: Robert Higgs is a Senior Fellow in Political Economy for The Independent Institute.

It is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

~Robert H. Jackson

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.

~Robert Lynd

Never is the power of the state greater, and never are the forces of political parties of opposition less effective, than at the outbreak of war.

~Robert Michels

About the quote: From "Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy", Collier Books, 1962, p. 357. Michels wrote this for the 1915 edition after the outbreak of WW I. The book propounds the "iron law of oligarchy" showing why even the German Social Democratic Party tended to betray its socialist and democratic principles.

If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another.

~Robert M. LaFollette

The maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country...more good than it will do the enemy.

~Robert Taft

There were no international terrorists in Iraq until we went in. It was we who gave the perfect conditions in which Al Qaeda could thrive.

~Robin Cook

About the quote: Cook is Britain's former foreign secretary. He resigned from the British Cabinet over the Iraq War.

The world should be worried about those who go around the planet with a can of gasoline in one hand and a box of matches in the other, pretending to sell fire insurance.

~Rodrigue Tremblay

About the quote: from the online article posted at http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/tremblay=1093

The world should take notice when someone...with a fanatic mind and with powerful means, receives his marching orders from Heaven.

~Rodrigue Tremblay

About the quote: From Trembaly's "The New American Empire." Tremblay is a Professor of Economic Science at the University of Montreal.

Wars of aggression are the most barbarous of all human endeavors and are, more often than not, the instruments of insane tyrants who hear voices.

~Rodrigue Tremblay

About the quote: Tremblay is a Canadian-born economist.

I learned nothing from war. War is not an activity for human beings; war is for criminals—rape, robbery and murder.

~Roman Podabedov (Russian anti-tank gunner)

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.

~Ronald Reagan

People do not make wars; governments do.

~Ronald Reagan

...no mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology.

~Ronald Reagan

The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor.

~Ronald Reagan

About the quote: From a speech on nuclear weapons, March 23, 1983.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

~Ronald Reagan

We must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

~Ronald Reagan

Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.

~Ronald Reagan

Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.

~Ronald Reagan

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

~Ronald Reagan

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

~Ronald Reagan

The moral and constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.

~Ron Paul

If you sacrifice liberty for security, you will lose both.

~Ron Paul

Do they think if we destroy our freedoms for the terrorists they will no longer have a reason to attack us?

~Ron Paul

Terror is a tactic. We can not wage "war" against a tactic.

~Ron Paul

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.

~Rosa Luxemburg

Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.

~Russell Baker

The fact that certain planets are uninhabited may very well derive from the fact that their nuclear scientist are more advanced than ours.

~Salon Gahlin, Swedish author

No one has ever succeeded in keeping nations at war except by lies.

~Salvador de Madariaga

How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!

~Samuel Adams

War--after all, what is it that the people get? Why--widows, taxes, wooden legs and debt.

~Samuel B. Pettengill

If you support any offensive war, consider yourself just as culpable of murder as the most insane serial killer.

~Sarah Bellum

Not only is war a form of legalized murder, but it is mass serial killing.

~Sarah Bellum

I'd like to think the best bunker buster is a diplomat.

~Scott Ritter

We are the ones responsible to determine whether the war that our marines, soldiers and airmen are fighting in is worth the cause...

~Scott Ritter

We say that we care about the war, but we don’t even really know what we’re fighting for.

~Scott Ritter

Iraq was a war of choice, not necessity.

~Senator Barbara Boxer

About the quote: From a speech delivered Wed. July 6, 2005.

Tis not, 'my country right or wrong'; tis, 'my country, that which is right to be kept right, that which is wrong to be set right'

~Senator Carl Schurz (MO)

About the quote: from his senate remarks 2/29/72. published in 'The Policy of Imperialism, Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913).

The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements.

~Senator James W. Fulbright

War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality.

~Senator John McCain

National defense is the usual pretext for the policy of fleecing the people.

~Senator John Taylor

About the quote: US Senator(SC), lived from 1753-1824

Before the war is ended, the war party assumes the divine right to denounce and silence all opposition to war as unpatriotic and cowardly.

~Senator Robert M. La Follette

Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely.

~Senator Robert M. La Follette

If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another...after the war is on.

~Senator Robert M. La Follette

In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war.

~Senator Robert M. La Follette

The first casualty when war comes is the truth.

~Sen. Hiram Johnson

The price of empire is America’s soul, and that price is too high.

~Sen. J. William Fulbright (Ark.)

This war is not necessary. We are truly sleepwalking through history.

~Sen. Robert Byrd

Criticism in a time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government.

~Sen. Robert Taft, (R) Ohio

We first fought...in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change.

~Serj Tankian

Democracy is not an incident that happens overnight, nor a gift that America can give to the world. It is a culture which needs peace to evolve.

~Shirin Ebadi

About the quote: Ebadi is Nobel Peace Laureate of Iran. This quote is excerpted from the 5/5/06 Washington Post's "Diplomatic Dispatches," by Nora Boustany.

Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.

~Sigmund Freud

Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another...

~Sigmund Freud

A belligerent state permits itself every such misdeed, every such act of violence, as would disgrace the individual.

~Sigmund Freud

If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.

~Simone de Beauvoir

What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.

~Simone Weil

The great error of nearly all studies of war... has been to consider war as an episode in foreign policies, when it is an act of interior politics...

~Simone Weil

Modern war appears as a struggle led by all the State apparatuses and their general staffs against all men old enough to bear arms...

~Simone Weil

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

~Sir Francis Bacon

I went into the Army believing that if you want peace you must prepare for war. I now believe that if you prepare thoroughly for war you will get it.

~Sir John Frederick Maurice

As for being a General, well, at the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords, we're all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it.

~Sir Peter Ustinov

Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.

~Sir Peter Ustinov

War is a racket.

~Smedley Butler

All wars are fought for money.

~Socrates

If peace...only had the music and pagaentry of war, there'd be no wars.

~Sophie Kerr

It is the merit of a general to impart good news, and to conceal the truth.

~Sophocles

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice.

~Spinoza

War technology is science in the service of obscene anatomical vandalism.

~Stan Goff

Mankind deserves sacrifice - but not of mankind.

~Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

War would end if the dead could return.

~Stanley Baldwin

When [men] go to war, what they want is to impose on their enemies the victor's will and call it peace.

~St. Augustine

About the quote: From "The City of God"

One reason the United States finds itself at the edge of a foreign policy disaster is its underinformed citizenry, a key weakness in democracy.

~Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke

About the quote: from "America Alone"

We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.

~Stephen Vincent Benét

The supreme excellence is to subde the armies of your enemies without even having to fight them.

~Sun Tzu

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

~Sun Tzu

All warfare is based on deception.

~Sun Tzu

The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.

~Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.

~Tacitus

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.

~Tacitus

About the quote: This quote is attributed to Calgacus in the Roman historian Tacitus' "Agricola."

The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.

~Tacitus

When people have friends and customers in other lands, they tend to take a dim view of their government dropping bombs on them.

~Terry Liberty Parker

The Department of Defense is the behemoth...With an annual budget larger than the gross domestic product of Russia, it is an empire.

~The 9/11 Commission Report

About the quote: Norton First Edition

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official...

~Theodore Roosevelt

It is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.

~Theodore Roosevelt

...to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

~Theodore Roosevelt

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president...is morally treasonable to the American public.

~Theodore Roosevelt

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

~Theodore Roosevelt

That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

~Theodore Roosevelt

Working for peace in the future is to work for peace in the present moment.

~Thich Nhat Hahn

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

About the quote: Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk

War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle.

~Thomas Carlyle

Our children are not born to hate, they are raised to hate.

~Thomas della Peruta

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

~Thomas Hobbes

Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.

~Thomas Jefferson

War...is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.

~Thomas Jefferson

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

~Thomas Jefferson

About the quote: in a letter to William Short, 28 July 1791.

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.

~Thomas Jefferson

I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.

~Thomas Jefferson

We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.

~Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

~Thomas Jefferson

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.

~Thomas Jefferson

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.

~Thomas Jefferson

The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to.

~Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.

~Thomas Jefferson

They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people.

~Thomas Jefferson

About the quote: From a letter to president Monroe, 1823.

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.

~Thomas Jefferson

Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.

~Thomas Jefferson

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves.

~Thomas Jefferson

About the quote: Originally in a letter to William C. Jarvis, 1820. Can be found in volume of "Writings" (New York, NY: Library of America) p.493

This I hope will be the age of experiments in government, and that their basis will be founded in principles of honesty, not of mere force.

~Thomas Jefferson

About the quote: in a letter to John Adams, 1796.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.

~Thomas Jefferson

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.

~Thomas Jefferson

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

~Thomas Jefferson

To preserve our independence...We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

~Thomas Jefferson

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

~Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.

~Thomas Jefferson

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

~Thomas Jefferson

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

~Thomas Jefferson

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

~Thomas Jefferson

War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.

~Thomas Mann

Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war.

~Thomas Merton

About the quote: (1915-1968)

Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with with infinitely more advantage than any victory with all its expence.

~Thomas Paine

About the quote: (From his 'The Rights of Man')

War is the gambling table of governments, and citizens the dupes of the game.

~Thomas Paine

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.

~Thomas Paine

That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true...

~Thomas Paine

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.

~Thomas Paine

He that is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.

~Thomas Paine

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

~Thomas Pynchon

Most wars are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances.

~Thomas Sowell

I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit.

~Thucydides

It is useless to attack men who could not be controlled even if conquered, while failure would leave us in an even worse position...

~Thucydides

About the quote: Thucydides was a Athenian historian, born in the 5th century, BC. Here, he is quoting the Athenian general Nikias on the proposed invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War.

Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.

~Thucydides

This president failed so miserably in diplomacy that we are now forced to war.

~Tom Daschle

Democracies become dictatorships if governments do not listen to the voice of the people.

~Tom Van Meurs

All war represents a failure of diplomacy.

~Tony Benn

Justice itself tends to be corrupted by political passion.

~T.S. Eliot

That meddling in other people's affairs...formerly conducted by the most discreet intrigue is now openly advocated under the name of intervention.

~T.S. Eliot

Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.

~Ulysses S. Grant

In modern war there is no such thing as victor and vanquished...There is only a loser, and the loser is mankind.

~U Thant , Burmese UN Secretary General

If you kill one person you are a murderer. If you kill ten people you are a monster. If you kill ten thousand you are a national hero.

~Vassilis Epaminondou

No great dependence is to be placed on the eagerness of young soldiers for action...fighting is agreeable to those who are strangers to it.

~Vegetius

Modern war and modern civilisation are utterly incompatible...one or the other must go.

~Vera Brittain

About the quote: Brittain was a British WWII-era anti-area-bombing activist. Quote from "Among the Dead Cities," by A.C. Grayling (Walker & Co., 2006).

Peace is the virtue of civilization. War is its crime.

~Victor Hugo

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

~Voltaire

It would be easier to subjugate the entire universe through force than the minds of a single village.

~Voltaire

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

~Voltaire

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

~Voltaire

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

~Voltaire

A standing army is a standing menace to liberty.

~Voltairine de Clayre

The time has come to stop beating our heads against stone walls under the illusion that we have been appointed policeman to the human race.

~Walter Lippmann

War is the only game in which both sides lose.

~Walter Scott

We have met the enemy and he is us.

~Walt Kelly

About the quote: Cartoonist, notably of "Pogo." lived 1913-1973.

Freedom is not nurtured by nations preparing for war.

~William Appleman Williams

The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.

~William Colby, former CIA director

About the quote: as quoted by Dave McGowan in his book "Derailing Democracy"

War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.

~William Cowper

The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could hardly be propagated.

~William Ellery Channing

So long as the deceit ran along quiet and monotonous, all of us let ourselves be deceived, abetting it unawares or maybe through cowardice...

~William Faulkner

About the quote: from his book "As I Lay Dying"

If [America] becomes militant, it will be because its people choose to become such; it will be because they think that war and warlikeness are desirable.

~William Graham Sumner

About the quote: from 1903

If you want war, nourish a doctrine. Doctrines are the most frightful tyrants to which men ever are subject...

~William Graham Sumner

The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.

~William O. Douglas

About the quote: Supreme Court Justice Douglas lived 1898-1980.

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.

~William Penn

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.

~William Pitt

A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.

~William Ralph Inge

The greatest crime since World War II has been US foreign policy.

~William Ramsey Clark

About the quote: William Ramsey Clark was US Attorney General under Lyndon B. Johnson

O, it is excellent To have a giant’s strength! But it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.

~William Shakespeare

About the quote: from "Measure for Measure," Act II, Scn. ii

The statesman who yields to war fever...is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

~Winston Churchill

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.

~Winston Churchill

Never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.

~Winston Churchill

War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.

~Winston Churchill

Wars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies.

~W. L. George

To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fibre of national life...

~Woodrow Wilson

Politicians' Logic: Something must be done, this is something, therefore we must do it.

~Yes, Prime Minister (UK TV Show)

Pages

Peoples Review Forums

The Racist Malay Teacher Will Still Be Teaching Your Kids! I am confident that if this we're to happen in any other developed country, the racist teacher in question will not be allowed to teach again... would be made to give a public apology, sent for counseling, the school would be made to take responsibility & receive punishment, a public apology given to the students from those in the education ministry, some sort of counseling for the students affected, etc. But I can bet you that many here in the government & even some members of the public, do not see how serious this is.How confident are you that this teacher would receive the appropriate punishment. Some UMNOputra ministers would probably be giving her an Ang Pow & congratulating her behind closed doors for the divide & conquer values & what the ripple effects of her actions might be. Probably making her a Head Mistress in the years to come & once the heat has died down. Oh yes, this goes down as a "strength" in her CV, with certain people.Justice has not been served!Surindvia email06/08/08

Are Chinese and Indian Merely Hedging?I would very much like to express my view over the issues of Social Contract and unhappiness among Chinese and Indian over the implementation of New Economic Policy.

I believe most of Chinese and Indian will agree with me that they do resent at all the monarchy system in this nation and in fact, we pledge our loyalty to Yang Dipertuan Agong, being the head and most respected leader of Malaysia. We feel nothing wrong with the Social Contract. And, off course, with aim of eliminating poverty among the rural Malays, we were also supportive of New Economic Policy at the very initial stage, which, according to general opinions, would sustain peaceful environment in this country since it has been widely accepted that poor, helpless and jobless groups would cause social illness.

However, the implementation of New Economic Policy has unhealthily transformed into the following:-Chinese and Indian are both exploited from education opportunities at tertiary level at public universities, and, private universities are too few to absorb those intending to study;Public sector is almost totally dominated by only Malays, leaving only private sector, and, worse still, Ministry came out with guideline to restrict recruitment of Chinese and Indian at executive level in multinational corporations;Whilst, in business sector, there are so many fields that Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs are totally barred from. Not to mention to many, logistic - freight and forwarding service, petrol kiosks etc.;In professional fields, foreign medical degrees which are recognized worldwide, particularly British Medical Council, are disrecognized and treated as substandard to local universities' certificates. Holders of law degrees from non-local universities are asked to sit for over-tough CLP exams which carry extremely low passing rate. And, to operate an audit firm, you need a Bumiputra partner, or else, audit license will not be granted;There is no transparency in Government awarding infrastructure contracts, resulting in that political cronies without capability and technical background earn mega projects, and, at a later stage, subcontract to Chinese and Indian at much much lower price at very slim margin, and, worse still, these political cronies at most occasions dishonour settlements, leading to backrupcies among the Chinese and Indian.As a mankind, we admit that there is tendency to safeguard own race's interests. But, should it be to the extent of breaking the rice bowls of others and forcing them to die? We do not resend policies to upbring the Malay community, but we really cannot stand being bullied, exploited, denied of rights to pursue education and career, and, cleansed up!Singaram via email23 Apr 2008

Its about time The Barisan Rakyat take necessary steps to abolish road tax for private register cars. The previous discount given by the ruling party is tailored towards the national cars.One of the reason they need to seriously look into this is due to the high cost of owning a vehicle in Malaysia combined with the high toll and fuel price increasing tremendously. The oil producing countries such as Brunei, Arab, Bahrain and etc do not impose road tax due or toll to the benefits derived from exporting their oil.Why not let the people enjoy part of this benefit??????Ragu -KL via email19/03/2008

It is easy to provide housing for these squatters. Just do a check on all low cost flats that were built for the poor over the years. A lot of them aren't being occupied by the poor or even the original purchasers. The corrupt BN government has long been giving these units to their underlings as rewards for services rendered. That is why you will even find units in Johor belonging to MIC party members in Selangor, although they have double storey houses and have never even set foot in Johor!Peter Doss via e-mail17/03/2008

I am commenting the remark made by MIBA President Sivakumar in comparing MIC loss to Sept 11th 2001 yesterday or a day before. (http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/79529) I can sense he’s lurking to get the top position MIC! This guy is so insensitive, trying to compare Sept 11th 2001 to MIC. It’s an outrage trying to compare Sept 11th 2001 to MIC. If I read his statement correctly- he is trying to refer HINDRAF Group as a terrorist organization – TALIBAN. What a s$#%bag !! Can you ask him if he experienced the actual event on September 11th 2001. Where were him during that time? New York ?? ? Did he try to reach out to the victims?? Ask him if he knows anyone from Malaysia perished in the tragedy!!! I lived through September 11th 2001!!against the people trying to exploit the event for their gains.I admire the guts of HINDRAF – fighting against injustice. I am ashamed of the Chinese community especially the MCA a.k.a running Dog and snake with 2 head. Tell the MCA & Gerakan – if HINDRAF doesn’t need MIC, then they should jump to DAP. (They should not sell their rights like Tan Siew Sin including my old man –worked for MCA!) I still have families in Malaysia. I agree with Indian #1 , that M.Mahatir was spitting out rubbish over his successor. He has no rights, unless he unloads the skeletons from his closet of 20 years!!! I branded him as a communist & dictator like CASTRO!!LONG LIVE HINDRAF!!! Let’s not forget the words of Wisdom form M.Gandhi :Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”Last but not least:Congrats to the oppositions parties of Malaysia PKR, DAP, PAS – the new dawn have just begins, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for all!!! Handle with CARE, please!!!! FRAGILE!! My appreciation to all bloggers, esp R.P.K/ Jeff Ooi in keeping Malaysians throughout the world in touch about the motherland!!!Cheers.Kenny, New York via email10/03/2008

It's time to focus on how to release Hindraf leaders detained under ISA. I think, with DAP and ADIL growing strongers and new Indian leaders' emergence, such as Prof. Ramasamy, we should now continue our quest by working closely with them to put more pressure on BN government.Invoke the issue: why Khairy who violated laws in ECM-Libra case can walk away freely whilst Hindraf leaders who walked peacefully to submit memorandum are detained under ISA? We should not let go.Singaram via email13/03/2008

Indeed indeed. That’s the thing that I will and always do (referring to the subject). For all this while, we the most marginalized race in mighty Malaysia, had been deemed as nonsense and does not reflect any value in any political decision. Even our so call leaders had thought so by taking us for granted. But yesterday, all the “dark skinned, low class, noisy, drunkards and all the negative nicks given by the people inferior to us” had shown all of them the power of Indians, most importantly Tamillians in deciding the ruling authority. Let us all rejoice for the start and dawning of the new era in our Thai Nadu (Jaihind Malaysia), just to tell all the ignorant human beings that we are also Bumiputeras in our mind and not like the silent apartheid that had been practiced by them all this while. Vanthe Mathaaram, Vanthe Mathaaram, Vanthe Maatharam!!!!p.s. Just thought that how would it be if my late mother (an ex-weed sprayer in an estate in Teluk Intan and working for a mere RM6 dollars a day) would be happy to see the changes that we all made.Yoganantha Arumugam via email09/03/2008

During Dr Mahatir's tenure, MP Kok Lanas Abdullah Arshad made a degratory ststement that Indians came out from the faeces of Muslims and Dr. Mahathir stated that we cannot take action against him as the statement was made in singapore and not in Malaysia. The number so called converts to muslims are not known to the spouse except on funeral day. Is not the perogative of the Syariah court to inform the spouse as to when and how the husband became a convert? The number of Indians that have died in police custody. The number of excelled students disappointed for not getting admission to the Universities. That explains why the brain drain occurs.ehambaranathan via email23/02/2008